Ask Motherly: How do I deal with relatives who go to bars during a pandemic and then want to see us?

Mama, your voice is important.

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The other thing to keep in mind is that family members who struggle with respecting your boundaries around COVID-19 are probably also family members who struggle with keeping and respecting your boundaries in other areas of life. Look at this situation as an opportunity to calmly practice boundary setting, without apologies. You might build a new muscle that serves you and your little family for the long haul.

Struggling with how to communicate your boundaries around COVID-19? Family therapist Stacie Pozdol, M.S., LMHC, shared seriously invaluable advice in a recent article for Motherly about how to share your VALUES with family members who see things differently. According to Pozdol, difficult conversations flow best when structured this way: V alidate, A gree, L et them know, find the U pside, E veryone wins, S tand firm. Her advice is seriously game-changing, and you can read it here.

Happy Holidays and socially-distanced cheers,

Liz + Jill