Relationships
Voice notes are not rude, but some people use them rudely
A voice note is rude when it saves the sender time and costs the listener more. When to send one, when to type, and…
Subject
Relationships
Friendship, love, family and the quiet work of knowing people well.
Relationships
Is it rude to leave a group chat?
Leaving a group chat is ordinary, and a muted chat you never read is the stranger choice. When to go, when to think twice,…
Relationships
You’re allowed to call without texting first
A ringing phone is an invitation, not a summons. Why calling a friend unannounced is fine, why letting it ring out is fine too,…
Relationships
Some people never ask a question back
You share your news and they wait for their turn. Why one-way conversation is so tiring, why it is not always selfishness, and the…
Relationships
Going to a wedding alone is not a consolation prize
The plus-one assumption treats single guests as a gap in the seating plan. Going on your own can be the better evening, and it…
Relationships
How to talk to your parents about getting older
Most families have this conversation too late. How to begin it early and gently, what matters most, and where help comes from.
Relationships
What to say to a friend who has had a miscarriage
A clumsy sentence said with care is almost always better than silence. What helps, what hurts, and how to keep showing up.
Relationships
How to change the way you eat without teaching your children to diet
Children notice what is on your plate. They take in far more of what you say about it.
Relationships
Making friends as an adult is mostly a matter of turning up again
The hard part is rarely meeting people. It is the second meeting, and the fifth, and the fifteenth.
Relationships
What to say when someone comments on your daughter’s weight
A grandparent, a friend, a stranger in a shop. Calm replies for when someone comments on your daughter’s weight, and what to tell her…
Relationships
When your own family is the first place you learn to hate your body
For many of us, the first lessons in body shame came from home — a nickname, a comment at the table, a diet at…
Relationships
My child is being bullied about their weight. What do I do now?
When a child is bullied about their weight, a parent’s first move matters most. What to say at home, what to ask the school,…