Should I Stay Together for the Kids?

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Should you stay for the kids? Karen McMahon opens this solo episode with a composite scene drawn from moments she has seen over and over in her work: a dinner table, a parent's jaw tightening, and a silence that lasts a beat too long. Two children respond in two different ways. Nine-year-old Emily fills the quiet with bright chatter, and five-year-old Jake gets smaller, hoping to take up less space. Their parent watches it happen across the table and recognizes the same fear in both of them. From there, Karen explains what those moments teach. Children who grow up around tension build coping strategies like people pleasing, hypervigilance, and codependence, and they carry those patterns…