Many of us dread the Thanksgiving dinner table if arguments about politics or religion are expected.
One mother who voted for President Trump says she will remember her religious upbringing when she sits down to dinner with her liberal-minded son: "There's a verse in the Bible that says to work at 'peace and edification'; and that's me."
Mediation experts like Columbia Law Professor Alex Carter suggests you allow controversial discussions, but make a game plan to keep it civil. "I wouldn't recommend that anybody set a blanket rule if it doesn't work for their family."
She says forbidding certain speech outright may only make things worse. There doesn't have to be a total ban on such topics.
"We have two children and the other side of this is I worry about teaching them a bad lesson; which is that we as a family can't get together and have a level-headed conversation about important topics."
Mediation experts suggest you make a game plan to keep the day civil. If you lay out some ground rules before dinner and make yourself perfectly clear, the Thanksgiving dinner can be more about love than politics.