Dr. Bob’s Reflections

Someone goes to their GP complaining about chest pains, and the GP refers the person for tests. They might get an ECG,...

Years ago, someone shared this parable with me and I reflect on it all the time. There was a remote village in Japan...

It’s pretty widely known that I do not believe in psychiatric diagnoses and do not believe the people I work with have...

I work with a lot of young adults (14-23) and have always dealt with their ambivalence and fears about becoming...

Many intimate relationships are compromised, or even destroyed, by one or both people having “trust issues”. ...

I’m sure all of us, at some point, could legitimately be accused of hypocrisy.   But when hypocrisy is on a grand...

With so much of my work involving post-separation co-parenting, I am constantly struck by the outrageous amounts of...

I’ve been thinking a lot about a metaphor that has probably been used by others. It’s a way of thinking about the...

Recently, I was driving home from getting groceries. I was stopped behind a van at a stoplight. I could not see who...

Traditional parents will sometimes demand that their children say things like “I’m sorry” when the parents feel the...

Once upon a time, there was a couple that lived in a beautiful house.  One day they noticed that some of their door...

I have written extensively, here and elsewhere, about how family court is a destructive process for children. What...

One of the (countless) amazing opportunities we have as parents is we can open our children’s eyes to different ways...

Sometimes I find myself confronted by my own ideas that I myself don’t like.  One of these times was when I...

Humans can be very arrogant in believing we are the “superior” species on this planet. I think it’s worth questioning....

If decades of experience working with post separation co-parenting have taught me anything, it is that children want...

I am constantly amazed at what I call “the arrogance of the Zeitgeist”.  Every generation feels they have got all the...

Even though we never actually do anything about it, it is popular in 2022 for everyone to “speak out” against domestic...

This is the first of a two part series on domestic violence.  Each part will highlight the main victims of domestic...

I was just reading a headline announcing the winners of the 2022 Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards, and it struck me...

My favourite podcast tells stories of lesser known or forgotten events in history. Today I was listening to it and it...

In the early 1970's, a Stanford University psychologist named David Rosenhan was introduced to the "anti-psychiatry"...

In the 1950’s, there was an American politician named Joseph McCarthy who was accusing virtually everyone of being a...

DISCLAIMER:   This reflection is about understanding the historical roots of judgment in our society and in parenting....

John Lennon wrote about imagining a world with no possessions, countries or religions.   I wonder if we can imagine a...

I am always interested in the things that we believe without questioning. For example, we believe that it is better to...

Hopefully, by the time this comes out September 1st, things will have calmed down a bit in our world. As I write this,...

From my perspective, there are so many ways that traditional parenting compromises our emotional well being as...

ADDICTION? In the current parenting world, a major issue is "screen time" and gaming.   Parents will commonly use the...

There are so many terrific ways for us to learn about ourselves, and when we have the courage to genuinely...

I believe with all my heart that we are perfect the moment we are conceived. What I mean is we are, by definition, the...

One of the many things I love about my job is the amazing people I get to meet (and who I probably would not have...

Thanks to my favourite podcast, now called "Build for Tomorrow" (formerly Pessimists' Archive) I have learned that...

One of the most powerful things we can do as parents is to empower our children.   Children define their capabilities...

There is a principal in law usually called "Gillick Competency".  It is named for a 1985 case in England where a child...

As this very strange and unprecedented year draws to a close, I've been thinking about what emotional lemonade we can...

Most of us, even when we are well and truly adults, refer to our parents as "Mum" and "Dad" (or something similar). ...

It is so interesting to me how our entire society has adopted the phrase "mental health" without really examining what...

School uniforms carry overt messages about conformity, compliance and lack of individuality.  But they also carry...

For most children, school is the place they transition to after spending most of their first 4-5 years with their...