Most parents who reach out for coaching say they can't recall the moment(s) when it began. I'm talking about when they started pausing, maybe several times, before responding to their adult child's texts. Or, those parents softening their opinions (or straight-up twisting them) so as not to spark reactivity in their adult children. Or, they bite their tongues altogether and avoid certain topics.

These parents confide that they aren't afraid of their adult children per se, but they are afraid of the daunting challenge of having calm, constructive conversations with them.

How can parents not have memories of swaddling and nurturing their adult children as infants, toddlers, and young kids? How the heck did things go from all that affection and awe to the current strain and emotional pain? Over years of disconnects,........

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