Anyone Want to Be on Television?!?!

And, more importantly, receive free counseling.

WEtv is launching a new program in southern California that is designed to help families who are struggling with difficult issues, such as those involving blended families, in-laws, parent/teenagers, eating disorders, bullying, unemployment, divorce, remarriage etc.

The casting director is looking for any nuclear families (children 10 or older) that would be interested in free counseling by Dr. Tara Fields, of Oprah, CNN, Dr. Phil fame. She would interview the family in their own home or in her office over the course of a week. The network would then provide additional counseling for six weeks. They realize the seven weeks in total won’t solve problems but they are hopeful it will help families have a breakthrough.

The interviews will be taped and then will air on WEtv. There is no studio audience. If you live in southern California (which I’m envious given the winter we’re having!) or if you know someone who does, and you or they would be interested in being on this show, please let me know. Families who appear will receive a $2,000 honorarium in addition to the free therapy.

Email me at ellie@ellieslottfisher.com.

Filed under: Daughters-in-Law,Grandparents,Mothers-in-Law,Relationships,Single Fathers,Single Mothers,Sisters-in-Law,Sons,Step Parents
by Ellie Fisher
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04
Feb
2011

High School Reunions: To Go or Not to Go

Thanksgiving weekend is approaching and along with turkey dinners, family gatherings and football, comes another tradition: high school reunions. I’ve come to the conclusion that if you’re single and looking for love, high school reunions can change a life, or two.

First we have to understand why reunions can create such angst. A reunion is a milestone; one that forces us to involuntarily look backwards. And when we do that we’re faced with an awareness of where we are today. No problem, if we’re content. Huge problem, if we’re not.

When I interviewed men for my second book, “Dating for Dads,” I was surprised how many of them had met “someone” at their reunions. Matter of fact, I have a male friend who is widowed and is currently dating a woman he met at his reunion. (He actually left that night with two phone numbers.)

If you’ve given up on dating sites, matchmaker friends, and the bar scene, you’ll find that meeting someone at a reunion feels safe. For one thing, you already know they aren’t lying about their name, where they grew up, or where they went to college. And, even better, you already know their real age. And they know yours!

So if you’re single and looking, don’t let any insecurities about your personal life, career or your extra 20 pounds dissuade you from attending alone. In fact, you’ll find that the older we get, (especially for all those reunions after 30 years) most of your married classmates will show up without spouses.

If you’re really nervous about going alone, then get reconnected with some of your old friends through Facebook where a lot of foreplay, so to speak, is done before the actual reunion. Come on, some 25 or 40 years later, aren’t you at least a little curious about what happened to your junior prom date?

So when I ask the question about whether you should go or not go to your reunion, what I really mean is, go already. Show that snooty cheerleader how fantastic you are. Besides, perkiness doesn’t transfer very well into middle-age.

Filed under: Relationships,Single Fathers,Single Mothers
by Ellie Fisher
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30
Oct
2010

English 101

I teach. I teach the dreaded English composition course all college freshman are required to take. I know that every semester I will face business majors, nursing students, art majors, computer programmers and a litany of other students whose course of study appears to have little need for writing.

I feel for them. I really do.

But then I ask them: If you can’t use proper grammar, put together a sentence with correct structure and syntax, use a vocabulary with words larger than the ones required for texting, will you impress a prospective employer? A professor? That cute girl or guy you meet in a bar? (Really, they get THIS). And G-d bless my students, they sit there and listen. I think they hear me. Either that, or they’re silently mocking me as still stuck in the dark ages. You know, the era of the now extinct Thank You Note.

Of course, I beg to differ. I’m a relationship expert and as such, I know that nothing will sink a relationship faster than a poor choice of words. If you tend to limit your vocabulary to four-letter words, (beyond l-o-v-e) well, that ought to do a lot for your marriage. If you shun any form of reading or writing or speaking intelligently because you’re happy to substitute all noise forms with guttural belching, especially when you’re in front of the TV, that will do wonders for your relationship, too. Guaranteed.

Conversely, the man or woman who writes or speaks meaningful, thoughtful and loving prose – especially if it accompanies a shiny object (men and women have different ideas about what a shiny object ought to be) – will earn enough brownie points to sustain his or her relationship at least through a month’s worth of dirty laundry and snoring.

Most likely if you’re reading my blog, you’re not one of my students. (If you are, don’t forget the reading assignment for Friday.) But I hope you, too, will keep on writing. Especially as well-written newspapers continue their vanishing act, and fewer literary works are published by publishers.

In fact, anytime you feel like talking, drop me a line. Or two.

Filed under: Daughters-in-Law,Grandparents,Mothers-in-Law,Relationships,Single Fathers,Single Mothers,Sons
by Ellie Fisher
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30
Aug
2010

Check out Singlemommyhood.com on Sunday

A favorite website of mine, www.singlemommyhood.com, run by two fantastic ladies, Rachel Sarah and Dr. Leah Klungness, is holding a contest this Sunday for my books. Check it out at http://bit.ly/9UMY7.

Even if you don’t participate in the contest, I guarantee you that you will love this website.

Filed under: Daughters-in-Law,Mothers-in-Law,Relationships,Single Fathers,Single Mothers,Step Parents
by Ellie Fisher
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30
Jul
2010

Happy Birthday Herb

Herb spent his 85th birthday on his knees watering flowers and pulling weeds, confronting the unexpected and premature summer heat. The sweat-drenched smile on his face demonstrated he was one happy man – in want of nothing more. But 85 is a milestone and this weekend his family is planning a celebration to honor this energetic and loving man.

I’ll be there with my significant other, and with my children and their significant others because Herb is my step dad, and has been for the past 23 years when he and my mom, both widowed, tied the knot. Because of their union, my sister and I inherited three step siblings and siblings-in-law, and six step nieces and nephews.

Every family event, from weddings to bar mitzvahs to major birthdays, has brought together Mom and Herb’s children and grandchildren who live throughout the United States and France. Amazingly, we all get along.

The first Thanksgiving after my husband died, they all came to my house (the dinner table stretched from the dining room, through the living room and into the foyer) so my kids and I wouldn’t be alone.

When my son broke his arm playing hockey in New Jersey the same night my daughter was rushed to a hospital in Baltimore (where she was a college freshman), I couldn’t be in both places at the same time – though, being a mom, I tried. So my step sister who lives in Maryland went to my daughter’s side.

When my sister’s daughter moved to Boston and didn’t know anyone, our step sister-in-law welcomed her and started a practice of including her in holidays and events.

I know that we step sibs have the distinct advantage of never having had to share a bathroom, or argue about riding shotgun. We were in our twenties and thirties when our parents married, all out of the house and developing families of our own. But still, it matters who sits at the helm.

At ours, sits Herb and Thelma.

Together they make one smart adorable couple who walk every day rain or shine, stopping for coffee and the morning newspaper, read books they’ve borrowed from the library, go to independent films that provoke thought, play golf and bridge, and so much more.

On Saturday when Herb blows out the candles on his cake and we stand around and cheer, I know what we’ll all be thinking.

What are we going to do for his 90th!?

Filed under: Fathers and Daughters,Grandparents,Relationships,Single Fathers,Single Mothers,Sisters,Sisters-in-Law,Step Parents
by Ellie Fisher
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29
Jun
2010
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