Family dynamics can feel especially intense around the holidays and one of the most challenging patterns many parents face is the triangle between you, your partner, and your mother-in-law. In today’s episode, Dr. Tracy Dalgleish returns to the podcast to help us make sense of this dynamic with compassion, clarity, and evidence-based tools.

In this conversation, I sit down with Dr. Tracy Dalgleish, psychologist and author of You, Your Husband & His Mother, to unpack why the mother-in-law / daughter-in-law dynamic is so emotionally charged and how it quietly strains couples.

We talk about boundaries, guilt, generational differences, cultural expectations, and what couples can do to stop feeling divided and start acting as a solid team.

In this episode, we cover:

Why this family dynamic is uniquely triggering
How boundaries get misunderstood and what actually works
What to do when your partner shuts down or minimizes the issue
How to recover after a difficult family gathering
Why connection comes before problem-solving

Join me for a free Webinar on December 17th at 8pm (and get the replay!):

https://tremendous-hustler-7333.kit.com/ce962dd904

You can purchase Tracy's book, You, Your Husband and Your Mother in Law, in the US or in Canada. You can also get her first book (which I also highly recommend called "I didn't Sign up for This" in the US or Canada.

Listen to my previous conversation with Tracy below:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/reflective-parenting-by-curious-neuron/id1440533170?i=1000627417247

Support the show

Start your journey to becoming emotionally aware:

Step 1: Join our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/reflectiveparentingpodcast

or visit our website to know which books I will be covering during the next months:

https://curiousneuron.com/podcast/

Step 2: Get your FREE emotional awareness training for parents and kids below (comes with a poster, workbook and video):

https://tremendous-hustler-7333.kit.com/84371dc0b2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4iEbFRZ5QQ&t=12s

Step 3: Join our course for $99, The Emotionally Aware Parent or join the next 8 week group cohort (starting in September 2026)

https://curiousneuron.com/reflective-parent-club/

Or email me info@curiousneuron.com to book emotional training sessions for your organization.