{"id":1169,"date":"2012-12-19T08:00:39","date_gmt":"2012-12-19T13:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/doinglifetogether\/?p=1169"},"modified":"2012-12-10T10:01:57","modified_gmt":"2012-12-10T15:01:57","slug":"its-all-relative-10-come-backs-to-family-digs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2012\/12\/its-all-relative-10-come-backs-to-family-digs.html","title":{"rendered":"It’s All Relative: 10 Come Backs to Family Digs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>There is no place like home for the holidays unless it is filled with family members who seem to have nothing better to do then criticize or complain. So to maintain a little peace on earth, think about how you want to respond to the family digs. Here are a few examples:<\/p>\n

1) Does Rachel ever sit still at the table?<\/em> “I know, she is really excited this year. Normally, I would be on her but it is a holiday so I’m giving her a bit more leeway.”<\/p>\n

2) Ricky is eating a bunch of cookies. Don’t you want to stop him?<\/em> “Thanks for your concern but it’s only one day out of the year. It’s OK today.”<\/p>\n

3) I noticed that your children didn’t say thank you when they opened their gifts.<\/em> “But you did notice that I told them to say thank you. I think they were very excited and just needed a reminder today.”<\/p>\n

4) Are you still single?<\/em> “I am but the good news is that I am not going through a divorce or having marital problems!”<\/p>\n

5) You know, our tax dollars are paying for your unemployment<\/em>. “And I appreciate that. I am really trying to find a job and if you know of any leads, please let me know.”<\/p>\n

6) Haven’t you been in school for a long time?<\/em> “It seems like forever. But I am determined to get my degree. Keep me in your prayers!”<\/p>\n

7) You might want to think twice about taking that second piece of pie.<\/em> “I am. Being intentional\u00a0 about what I eat is one of my goals. So if I eat this now, I will need to cut back later. What is your weight loss strategy?”<\/p>\n

8) Are you and Jim having marital problems?<\/em> “That’s really personal and I’d like to focus on the holiday. But thanks for your concern.”<\/p>\n

9) I would never allow my dog to be on the furniture.<\/em> “People have really different ideas when it comes to their pets. I’m glad you see that!”<\/p>\n

10) Are you really going to use paper plates?<\/em> “I am. I have dishes but I thought this would make clean up easier and give us more time together. Thanks for understanding.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is no place like home for the holidays unless it is filled with family members who seem to have nothing better to do then criticize or complain. So to maintain a little peace on earth, think about how you want to respond to the family digs. Here are a few examples: 1) Does Rachel…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[914],"tags":[803,798,335,208,799,802,800,801,656,52,53,749,17],"class_list":["post-1169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family-relationships-2","tag-assertiveness","tag-complaints","tag-criticism","tag-family-2","tag-family-dinners","tag-family-dysfinction","tag-family-get-togethers","tag-holiday-meals","tag-holidays","tag-parenting-2","tag-relationships","tag-relatives","tag-stress-2"],"yoast_head":"\nIt's All Relative: 10 Come Backs to Family Digs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2012\/12\/its-all-relative-10-come-backs-to-family-digs.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"It's All Relative: 10 Come Backs to Family Digs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There is no place like home for the holidays unless it is filled with family members who seem to have nothing better to do then criticize or complain. So to maintain a little peace on earth, think about how you want to respond to the family digs. Here are a few examples: 1) Does Rachel…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2012\/12\/its-all-relative-10-come-backs-to-family-digs.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Doing Life Together\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-12-19T13:00:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-12-10T15:01:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2011\/12\/upset-sisters.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda Mintle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@drlindamintle\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"It's All Relative: 10 Come Backs to Family Digs","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2012\/12\/its-all-relative-10-come-backs-to-family-digs.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"It's All Relative: 10 Come Backs to Family Digs","og_description":"There is no place like home for the holidays unless it is filled with family members who seem to have nothing better to do then criticize or complain. 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Dr. Linda\u2019s fun personality and expertise comes through whether she\u2019s helping her audience stress less or make peace with their thighs! Dr. Linda has her Ph.D. in Urban Health and Clinical Psychology and is a national expert on mental health. She has specialized in the treatment of eating disorders, anxiety, depression and pain management. With 30 years of clinical experience working with couples, families and individuals, she brings her common-sense approach to people who want to live in positive mental health. Dr. Linda is also a bestselling author with 21 book titles to her credit, a radio host of the Dr. Linda Mintle show, professor, national speaker, winner of the Mom\u2019s Choice Award, a national news consultant, featured writer for Beliefnet and hosts her own website. Her academic appointments keep her abreast of current research in her areas of expertise. Her media experience includes seven years as the resident expert for ABC Family\u2019s Living the Life television show and regular appearances on network television and radio. It is often said that being with Dr. Linda is like having coffee with a friend. She makes the complicated issues of relationships and mental health easy to understand and applicable to everyday living. The ease she has with people, coupled with her clinical training and experience makes her a sought-after speaker on college campuses, conferences and special events. Whether she is doing a TV skit with Tim Conway or discussing teen violence with Queen Latifa, Dr. Linda will entertain, educate and integrate faith and mental health in everyday living. Check out her latest book Hope and Healing for Anxiety, a whole-person approach to eliminate anxiety. .","sameAs":["https:\/\/drlindamintle.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/drlindamintle\/","https:\/\/x.com\/drlindamintle"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/author\/lmintle"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/419"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1169"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3792,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1169\/revisions\/3792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}