Family or Fiancé's Tracy McMillan has the best advice for smoothly bringing together the family this season.
With families separated for a long time due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many people may feel anxious as they gear up for holiday gatherings this year.
"I would say be gentle and note that there's probably some things that have been waiting in the wings to be dealt with and you don't have to handle it all at once. It's really about, whether it's in a couple or whether it's in a family, it's really about stating needs and then negotiating win-win solutions," McMillan said.
Nearly every family isn't perfect, so McMillan has some advice for a very problematic family dynamic.
"A very, very common scenario is the mother wants to be number one in her son's life or her daughter's life and this fiancé person is threatening to take over her role as number one person. The parent has to kind of move over so that there's space for the couple to be number one. A couple cannot last unless each person has the other one in first position."
Lastly, and most pertinent to her show on OWN, McMillan shared her advice for fiancés this holiday season.
"When your partner is in the presence of their family, they are likely to get triggered in various ways. Also people regress, they revert to childhood patterns, childhood roles they played when they were among their family. You want to be very compassionate and supportive."
Make sure to tune into Family or Fiancé, airing Saturdays on OWN.
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