Mini likes to talk. She likes to talk a lot. And she likes to talk, a lot, about the things she does with her mother and her mother’s apparent fiancé or the things her mother says or the things her mother’s fiancé says or…Well. I think you get the picture.

I like that Mini shares things with me. And I’m pretty sure AM likes that Mini shares things with her, too. But I think when Mini starts telling us things like “He’s a big lump in the bed” or “My mom got a big engagement ring” things can get a little awkward. And that’s not to say that I’m not interested in the things Mini does with her mother, because I totally am…But I don’t need or want to hear about every little thing or, and this cannot be stressed enough, about her mother’s fiancé.

We’ve told Mini, several times, that we don’t have to hear about every little detail of what goes on when she’s at her mother’s house. And we’ve told her that we don’t have to know about every little thing every one of them say. And we’ve reinforced that, verbally. We have told Mini that it’s for respect of privacy, not disinterest, that she shouldn’t tell us this stuff. I think she just wants to share and doesn’t know where the line should be drawn…But how do we show her?

So, here’s a call for information. How would you, or how have you, handled this situation? How do you get your tweens to respect the other parent’s privacy? Share you suggestions, ideas and questions in the comments.

All month we’re talking about how to make a blended family work and all the related health issues surrounding divorce. According to a recent study, more than 40,000 families in North Carolina go through divorce every year.

Divorce can be an emotional train wreck for both parents, but often the family members hurt most have the least control — the children. What’s the best way to help children adjust to divorce? The complexity of your discussion with your children should vary with the child’s age, even if the basic information is the same for all children.

How much do you know about how to protect your children? Test your knowledge with the following questions on our quiz, “The Truth About Kids and Divorce.”

Couirtesy AMC

Mad Men, Emmy winner for the last two years in a row for Best Drama on television, wrapped up its third season this week. In the midst of the main story where the partners of fictional advertising agency Sterling Cooper leave to start a new agency, there was a much more searing and heartfelt drama playing out in the background. The show’s two main characters, Don and Betty Draper, broke the news to their young children that they were getting a divorce. Just as in life, the emotions were raw and there were no simple answers.

As we talk this month about how to make blended families work, it’s important to point out that shielding children from pain is often parents’ No. 1 concern.

Here are some tips from OHealthy to help you during that process:

• Don’t shield your children from bad news. It’s important to be open and honest with them.
• Make an effort to understand how your children feel about the divorce. You are going through a terrific emotional struggle yourself. Still, you must encourage children to talk openly about their feelings. Let them express anger and grief on their own terms.
• During and after the divorce, don’t expose your kids to arguments between the two of you. The children of divorcing parents must make some difficult adjustments. Don’t add to the stress by fighting in front of them.

How did you break the news to your children? And how did they take it?