This is Ask Lisa, a podcast to help people understand the psychology of parenting.

Psychologist Dr. Lisa DeMore, author of two New York Times best-selling parenting books, takes your questions.

And I'm co-host, Rina Ninan, a journalist and mom of two.

Some of what we talk about comes from raising children ourselves.

Most of the time, I'll be getting answers to your parenting questions.

So send your questions to Ask Lisa at Dr.LisaDemore.com.

Episode 95, dealing with difficult relatives. We know family relationships can definitely affect our well-being. How do we deal with difficult relatives and still find a way to enjoy the holidays?

Dr. Lisa and I unpacked dealing with tricky relatives.

We hope you enjoy this encore episode originally from season two.

Happy Thanksgiving from our team at the Ask Lisa podcast.

We're so grateful for your interest in mental health and parenting.

The holidays are approaching and to gather or not to gather, that is still the question.

It is, it is. What are you guys doing?

You know, we host my in-laws, and it's wonderful. And we have a real, you know, kind of set routine.

Everybody brings the same thing every year. We've got it kind of down. And last year we did it outdoors in mid-October. And this year, thanks to vaccines and testing, we can do it indoors.

How about you guys?

We're still trying to figure it out, you know, trying to see where everyone's comfort level is.

And we've been getting a lot of feedback from our listeners about help. They want help. And this letter

came into us. It says, Dear Dr. Lisa, last year, we skipped having my in-laws come for Thanksgiving,

and it was such a relief. This year we're back to our regular routine. My husband's parents are

fundamentally decent people. But having them come for the holidays is always tense.

They rub my 13-year-old son the wrong way because they're loud, opinionated, and they talk

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