Several years ago I gave a presentation during which I shared thoughts about ways in which to enrich family relationships. Since interactions with family impact on us throughout our lives, I was not surprised to see the wide range of ages in the audience. At the conclusion of my talk, I asked for questions or comments. Many hands went up. A number of questions pertained to parenting, some about younger children or adolescents and some about adult children. Grandparents offered thoughts about their role in the lives of their grandchildren with one woman noting that given family circumstances she and her husband were the primary caregivers for their grandkids—a situation that seems to have become much more commonplace. Not unexpectedly, there were questions about marital relationships. One woman who I would estimate was in her mid-70s (to be honest, I’ve never been a good judge of a person’s age based on appearance) asked about the capacity of older family members to make changes in their lives. I believe her question was prompted, in part, by my discussion of “negative scripts,” that is, counterproductive behaviors in which a person continues to engage without any attempt to make changes. Often an…
