Emptying The Nest

How to launch your young adult toward success and self-reliance.

by Brad Sachs, Ph.D.

Bottom of the Ninth

This is about change, loss, and the baseball game I didn't go to.

Our youngest daughter has entered her final year of high school and is busily applying to college. My wife and I are not new to launching children-our eldest son has already finished his undergraduate degree and started a family, our middle son just began his junior year of college. Read More

Leaving Home for "Infinity and Beyond!"

Two recent movies, geared towards very different audiences, hightlight in similarly tender ways the complex emotions associated with the process of preparing to leave home. Read More

The Family Force Field

The achievement of autonomy is one of life's great triumphs, but it is not easily won. While there are always differences between individual children when it comes to how rapidly they become autonomous, what I have noticed after carefully observing thousands of families is that the family climate has much more to do with how quickly autonomy is achieved than a child's temperament. Read More

A Guitar Hero Finds a Way to Leave Home

About ten years ago, I began treating a young man, Richie, who, despite being bright and engaging, was an abysmal high school student, struggling miserably through sophomore year. Richie had two main interests, video games and electric guitar, and everything else-including academic achievement-took a serious backseat to these twin pursuits. Read More