Relationship
Some signs he only sees you as a backup plan
He doesn’t make an effort to plan your dates. HE really isn’t invested in the idea of getting close to you. Everyone knows that couples do get closer to each other through dates. It’s when two people spend time with each other where they really establish and build a connection together. But he’s not so interested in getting closer to you. He’s probably not so interested in getting to know you better at all. And that’s why he doesn’t put any effort into planning dates with you. For him, you can come and go as you please.
He makes it so hard for you to get a hold of him whenever you’re not together. He’s practically on another planet whenever you’re not together. He never makes it easy for you to reach him. The truth is that he doesn’t want to be reached at all. He’s spending time away from you because he would rather not be in your company. And that’s why he’s making it hard for you to reach him.
You find it so hard to get him to open up about anything. He isn’t going to want to tell you anything about his life at all. He will pretend to listen to you talk and talk about yourself as a person, but he isn’t going to return the favour.
He will do nothing to give away how he feels about you. He isn’t going to want you to know just how he feels about you. He doesn’t want you to know that he’s not all that interested in you. He wants to keep you on the leash, and so he will do just enough to make you think that you have a chance with him. But he isn’t going to give you too much to the point that you feel like you have him in the palm of your hand. He is always going to keep you guessing because he doesn’t want you to feel comfortable with him.
He looks more at his phone than he does at you when you’re together. Another sign that he just really isn’t invested in establishing a connection with you is when he is only on his phone for whatever time you spend together. He is frankly more interested in finding out about the things that are going on in his news feed than he is about the things that you might want to tell him. His phone gets more intimate time with him than you do.
He is very strict about his privacy with you. He doesn’t want to let you in because he doesn’t trust you enough. He doesn’t want you to feel like you are afforded an intimate spot in his life. He doesn’t want you to believe that you are unique to him at all. And that’s why he’s going to be very private and secretive with you. He will not want you to enter his apartment, or at the very least, he will not want you to spend the night. He won’t want you browsing through his phone or personal belongings. He doesn’t feel that level of comfort with you yet.
Source: dreamyhub.com
Parenting teens can be challenging. But it can also be a joy. The key is to know how to care for yourself, first and foremost. Before you have children, you might think that parenting will come naturally. And, to some degree, it does. But there are days (and sometimes months and years) when all parents could use some extra support.
Last week we looked at some four simple yet powerful approaches for parenting teens that build strong relationships for the long-run. Here are the remaining two:
4: Keep communication going
Because we are often busy and distracted, we do not always take the time to really focus on our kids when they’re trying to tell us something. Take advantage of the time you have together. Having dinner together as a family, using car time to talk, or chatting before bed are good ways to stay in daily touch with your teen. Prioritise quality time as well as quantity: Consider having breakfast out on the weekend as a special catch-up time to chat about the week. Or schedule monthly “family meetings” to discuss how things have been going and any conflicts that have arisen.
5. Be an empathetic listener
Listening with empathy and caring is one of the most important tips on parenting a teenager. Researchers have shown that people’s brain patterns synchronise when they listen closely to one another and watch each other’s expressions. As a result, the connection between them becomes stronger. Not feeling truly heard can lead to isolation and lack of self-esteem which are the root causes of anxiety, depression, and substance abuse. Therefore, take listening seriously. It’s not just a way of coping with teenagers; it has an enormous impact on their well-being.
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SHE did not find out he was cheating. She found out he was drowning.
It was two weeks after their beautiful wedding. The jollof was still in the fridge. A loan officer called her number—not his—and politely asked, “Madam, please tell your husband to pay his overdue loan. We have been calling him.”
That was how she discovered her new husband had entered their marriage with a hidden debt of over GH¢40,000. No cheating. No other woman. Just a financial secret.
And that is how many Ghanaian marriages begin to die. Not with a shout, but with a secret alert on a phone.
In my therapy/counselling office in Accra, week after week, I sit with couples whose marriages are not broken by infidelity, but by invoices. If you ask me what is quietly killing Ghanaian marriages today, I will tell you without blinking: it is not that love has died; it is that money honesty never lived.
We prepare for the wedding. We do not prepare for the wallet.
What is money honesty?
Let me define it simply. Money honesty is not that you both earn the same. It is that you both know the same. It is the ability to sit down and say without fear:
“This is how much I earn.”
“This is how much I owe.”
“This is how I was raised to see money.”
“This is what scares me about money.”
Financial transparency is not about control. It is about clarity. You cannot build trust on top of secrets.
Many couples tell me, “Counselor, we love each other, love will handle money.” I always answer, “Love is the car, but money honesty is the fuel. Love without honesty cannot move.”
Why do Ghanaian partners hide money?
From my clinical observation, it is not always wickedness. It is often woundedness.
1. The fear of losing power: Especially for men, money is seen as power. “If she knows how much I have, she will control me or disrespect me.” So he hides.
2. Family entanglement: “If my wife knows I give my mother GH¢1,500 every month, there will be trouble.” So he creates a second MoMo account. Many Ghanaian marriages have three accounts—his, hers, and the secret family one.
3. Past trauma: A woman who grew up in a home where her mother begged for chop money will never be honest about her savings. She is not greedy. She is scared. She is saving for her survival.
4. Debt shame: In Ghana today, with easy access to Qwikloan, Fido, and bank salary loans, many young men and women enter marriage already drowning in debt. They hide it because they feel, “If I tell him/her, they won’t marry me.”
So the hiding begins. And that is where the insurance lapses.
The 3 Devastating Prices You Pay For Financial Secrecy
Research from Kansas State University found that arguments about money are the number one predictor of divorce, more than arguments about children, in-laws, or sex. Why? Because money arguments are never about money. They are about trust, respect, and security.
Price 1: It destroys trust faster than infidelity.
When you discover your spouse has a secret child, you are hurt. When you discover your spouse has a secret debt that loan officers are now chasing YOU for, you feel betrayed and foolish. Clients tell me, “Counselor, I can forgive cheating, but I cannot forgive that he made me look like a fool at the bank.”
Price 2: It creates chronic anxiety in your home.
A home where money is a mystery is a home where no one sleeps well. The wife is always checking his phone not for other women, but for loan alerts. The husband is always anxious when his wife says, “Can we talk?” You cannot have intimacy where there is financial anxiety.
Price 3: It teaches your children to lie.
Children are watching. When daddy says, “Tell anyone who calls that I am not around because of money,” you are teaching your son that lying about money is normal. We are raising a generation of financially dishonest partners.
