Ask Dr. Joannie Questions

Question: My daughter-in-law will not let me watch our young grandchild. If she needs someone to watch the baby, it is always her mom, her dad, or her brother. My husband and I were good parents, and we are nice Christian people. I miss time alone with my granddaughter. I mentioned this to my son and […]

Question: How should I advise my daughter as she desires to choose a private Christian school for our 5-year-old grandchild to attend? Even though she doesn’t want to be “forced” into a Christian mold herself since she feels threatened by strong Christians like myself. She says she felt “forced” to go to church as a

Question: We spent a lot of time with my grandsons when they were younger taking them places and making memories. They are now preteens/teens and at the age where they don’t want to do things with us or spend the weekend as they did in the past. I am grieving over it. I viewed it

Question: Although we raised both our children in a Christian home, they have chosen not to continue their church attendance. They live several states away. They have strong families-spouses and love their children incredibly. I realize that God has blessed our grandkids with their parents, and I want to support/respect their roles as parents while

Question: My 10-year-old grandson has been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and he often responds to people inappropriately when in public. Sometimes he gets overly aggressive and says things to his siblings and other children that are hurtful and in very poor taste. My son and daughter-in-law have responded to this by telling his siblings

Question: My daughter and her husband have left the Christian faith and they insist on us not praying with their children or playing Christian music in their presence. I feel like I betray my faith when I don’t pray. It’s just part of who I am. Is it ok for me to pray with them

What do I do when my 6-year-old grandson returns home after a day or weekend with us and is uncharacteristically disrespectful and disobedient to his parents? Response: You have described a very typical situation. When my kids were little, I used to call it Grandparent Withdrawal Syndrome! When grandkids visit grandparents, Grandma and Grandpa are

Question: My grandkids are all involved in sports, and for two out of four of them, there seem to be more negative effects than positive ones. Their family is rarely together because kids are off in many directions for practices, they seem tired most of the time, they lose most of their events, and are