TresSugar

Dear Poll: Who Is the Glue in Your Family?

DearSugar — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:00:00 -0700

Family relationships can be tough, but there's usually one person who has the ability to bring everyone together no matter what the circumstances may be. I'm that person in my family, maybe because I'm the oldest, but I'm curious to know about your family dynamic so tell me, who is the glue in your family unit?

Source

Do You Have a Contentious Relationship With Anyone in Your Family?

DearSugar — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:00:00 -0700

It's no secret that Spencer and his younger sister Stephanie don't get alone, but it seems like he constantly goes out of his way to be mean to her. If he's not reminding her how much he dislikes her then he's making her look foolish in front of her friends, and last night's episode of The Hills proved just that. As we all know, families can be complicated, so tell us, have you ever had an contentious relationship, like Stephanie so clearly does, with anyone in your family?

To learn about all the fashion from The Hills, check out CelebStyle.

Photo courtesy of MTV

Do Tell: Were You the Favored Child?

DearSugar — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 08:00:00 -0800

Whether you like to admit it or not, one child is always more favored than the others - it's just the way family dynamics work. At the end of the day, I'm not sure if it's necessarily a good thing to be the favored one, but there's no denying that in every family, there's a pecking order. I know there was in my family so ladies, do tell: Were you the favored child in your family or were you the one always fighting for attention?

Source

Dear Poll: Who Wears the Pants?

DearSugar — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:00:00 -0700

A recent study in Iowa examined the dynamic of 72 married couples whose average age was about 33 and average length of marriage was seven years. After observing how the men and women interacted, women appeared to have more power, more domineering and dominant behaviors than their husbands, regardless of who brought up the topic of conversation.

These results were not all that shocking to me, especially since I know so many strong willed women. So while it was clear in this study that women displayed more power than their husbands during problem-solving discussions, what I want to know is, who wears the pants in your relationship?

Source

Book Bag: The Kiss Gives Insight Into Mackenzie Phillips

TresSugar — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:00:00 -0700

Since revealing her dark family secret to the public, Mackenzie Phillips has described the period after her father molested her at 18 as "consensual." And although her father was a "damaged guy" as she said on the Today show recently, Phillips also said, "I believe I have some accountability for what went down afterwards."

It's this taboo area that writer Kathryn Harrison explores in her disturbing and beautifully written memoir, The Kiss, about a four-year "affair" she had with her father with whom she reconnected at age 20. With spare and unsensationalistic language, Harrison helps the reader understand how inadequate the word "consent" is when a child is involved sexually with a parent, even when she's reached adulthood. To hear about other insights The Kiss provides, read more.

Harrison's parents divorced when she was a baby, and she was raised by her grandparents after her mother left her at 6 without leaving an address or phone number. Even though they eventually reconnected, Harrison had a strained relationship with her and describes her in the book as narcissistic.

When she was in college, her father, who had become an ordained minister, contacted her, and she, her mother, and father spent a week together at her mother's apartment. It was when Harrison drove him to the airport that he first kissed her in a nonparental way. "In years to come," she writes, "I'll think of the kiss as a kind of transforming sting, like that of a scorpion: a narcotic that spreads from my mouth to my brain." For four years after that, they had a sexual relationship.

Many people may think that Mackenzie Phillips, in "consenting" to sleep with her father as an adult, is as much to blame as her father or that she forfeits her right to our sympathy because she was not a child when this happened to her. By taking us into the mind of a vulnerable young woman, Harrison helps us understand that no matter what age someone is when a parent is inappropriately sexual, that sexual relationship is always embedded in an abuser/victim dynamic. Victims of incest can come to sympathize with and love their abusers - like kidnap victims with Stockholm Syndrome. Like Harrison, Phillips probably took the love her father gave her for a time, no matter in what poisonous form it was given.

GiggleSugar Best of the Week

GiggleSugar — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 05:10:22 -0700

Building yourself a motorized bar stool is just asking for trouble.
Heidi Klum is an April Fools' Day role model.
The Snuggie meets the Sham Wow in infomercial heaven.
Oh Gisele, please tell us it was a language barrier.
And what exactly is going on in this family dynamic?
"Mowing the lawn" and other bad bikini-line puns.
Just can't get enough Judge Judy.
The cute Olympics: we have a winner!

Where Do You Stand? Sibling Rivalry

DearSugar — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 16:00:00 -0700

Even though I'm the oldest in my family, I've still fallen victim to sibling rivalry. And while my brother and I are very different, it's that competition that often times pushes us to reach our goals, whatever they may be. Yes, rivalry has a down side too, but tell me, where do you stand on the matter? Do you think it's just a healthy part of any family dynamic or does rivalry have the ability to wedge a gap between siblings?

Source

Seven Years Later: The World Remembers September 11, 2001

CitizenSugar — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 05:50:22 -0700

Just last week, construction workers erected the first steel column on the site where the north tower once stood. Building a museum and memorial on the former World Trade Center site, and despite setbacks, it's set to be completed on the tenth anniversary, in 2011.

The beams of the memorial will carry the signatures of tens of thousands of people. A project taking the beams to 25 states culminates in New York, with signings being held today and tomorrow, and a collection of notes of hope to be preserved in the new museum.

Michael Bloomberg spoke to the delays in an op-ed in yesterday's Wall Street Journal saying:

We will now push the Port Authority to make two concrete commitments. Most important, the memorial must be completed by the 10th anniversary. No more excuses, no more delays. New York Gov. David Paterson and I are in complete agreement on this subject, and it's time for the PA to formally commit to the same goal. . . realizing our vision, without further delay, of Lower Manhattan as a global financial center, a dynamic family neighborhood, and a peaceful and inspiring place of reflection and remembrance.

How will you mark the day of quiet reflection?

Source

Turn On or Turn Off? Stay-at-Home Dads

DearSugar — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 07:00:00 -0700

There's something incredibly sexy about a man that's good with kids. Perhaps that quality just pulls on my maternal heart strings, but I have a feeling I'm not alone on this one. Though they're not set in stone, many of the roles we play are dictated by society, and women being the ones who stay at home is one of them. But what about when the roles are reversed and Dad is the one who wants to stay at home with the kids while Mom focuses on her career? Of course every family dynamic is different, so tell me, are stay-at-home dads a turn on or a turn off?

Source

Are There Still Certain Things You Won't Do in Front of Your Parents?

DearSugar — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:00:00 -0700

Even though I'm a grown adult, there are still certain things I don't feel comfortable doing in front of my parents - kissing, drinking too much, etc. - some things are just meant for your peers. Since I'm not a smoker, I can only assume that I'd feel the same way about smoking cigarettes, but it's pretty clear from these pics that Katherine Heigl doesn't agree! Of course, all family dynamics are different so tell me, are there still things that you don't do in front of your parents? And if so, what are they?

Flynet