Primal Loss


Book Description

Seventy now-adult children of divorce give their candid and often heart-wrenching answers to eight questions (arranged in eight chapters, by question), including: What were the main effects of your parents' divorce on your life? What do you say to those who claim that "children are resilient" and "children are happy when their parents are happy"? What would you like to tell your parents then and now? What do you want adults in our culture to know about divorce? What role has your faith played in your healing? Their simple and poignant responses are difficult to read and yet not without hope. Most of the contributors--women and men, young and old, single and married--have never spoken of the pain and consequences of their parents' divorce until now. They have often never been asked, and they believe that no one really wants to know. Despite vastly different circumstances and details, the similarities in their testimonies are striking; as the reader will discover, the death of a child's family impacts the human heart in universal ways.




My Family's Changing


Book Description

Are there children in your life who are experiencing the pain of their parents' divorce? This book will help give advice and information in a gentle and sensitive way. It will help children face their fears, worries and questions when the family is going through a break-up. Parents, teachers, and gift givers will find: language that is simple, direct, and easier for younger children to understand information about a divorce in my family a helpful book written by a psychotherapist and counselor a whole series of books for children to explore emotional issues The A First Look At series promotes positive interaction among children, parents, and teachers, and encourage kids to ask questions and confront social and emotional questions that sometimes present problems. Books feature appealing full-color illustrations on every page plus a page of advice to parents and teachers.




Behind Closed Doors: SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING


Book Description

'BRILLIANT . . . I LOVE THIS BOOK' LEMN SISSAY 'A MUST-READ BOOK' JACQUELINE WILSON 'EXTRAORDINARY' OLIVER BULLOUGH 'EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS BOOK' HILARY COTTAM Meet the mother whose children were taken away, and the father who fought for his son. Listen to the radical social worker, the judge, the lawyer. See inside the homes of foster carers, adoptive parents and children in care. Because behind closed doors, a scandal is ongoing. We now remove more children from their parents than ever before, more than any other western country. Not because of a rise in physical or sexual abuse, but because of complex factors that are overlooked and misunderstood. Children's Care is a system where fathers are ignored, and mothers are punished for experiencing abuse. Rife with prejudices about race, ableism and class, determined by a postcode lottery. Blind to poverty and its effects on family life. And, at its very worst, an exercise in social engineering that can never replace parental love. This is not a soft issue. Not a 'women and children' problem. It is a prism through which we can understand the deepest issues at play in politics, economics and society today, and it is happening behind closed doors. Because of legal restrictions against reporting in family courts, the uneasy work of social care and the shame poured on parents, these problems remain out of our sight. They are the subject of horror headlines or stale statistics. But family life is at the heart of who we are as people, and it is they who can help us understand. From North to South, rich and poor, Black and white, these are the people who know, first-hand, what is going wrong - and how we can fix it. These are their stories. 'IMPORTANT' IAN BIRRELL 'VITAL' HANNAH JANE PARKINSON 'ONE OF BRITAIN'S BEST JOURNALISTS WRITING ABOUT SOCIAL JUSTICE' MARIANA MAZZUCATO




How to Break Up With Anyone


Book Description

Not all relationships are made to last forever. Sometimes what starts as a beautiful friendship or productive partnership turns toxic, or one-sided, or unhealthy-and the best solution for both parties is to end it. In How to Break Up With Anyone, relationship expert Jamye Waxman has written a much-needed guide to every step of a non-romantic breakup. Drawing from her own experiences, Jamye provides strategies for disengaging from a friend, family member, community, or even former version of oneself, addressing both practical and emotional concerns. While ending a relationship can be painful, Jamye’s positive message focuses on the ultimately liberating aspects of putting unhealthy relationships to rest. Chapters include: Breaking Up Versus Taking a Break, Best Friends Forever No More, Breaking Up With Family, Kissing Community Goodby, eRelabeling Your Sexuality and Gender, Breaking Up With Your Career, Breaking Up With Anyone Else, Being Broken Up With. How to Break Up With Anyone provides the tools for anyone to initiate a breakup, the encouragement to get through it, and the wisdom to recognize that they don’t have to settle for anything less than productive, healthy relationships. Covering a variety of relationships, How to Break Up With Anyone is a timeless resource for people of all ages.




Grown and Flown


Book Description

PARENTING NEVER ENDS. From the founders of the #1 site for parents of teens and young adults comes an essential guide for building strong relationships with your teens and preparing them to successfully launch into adulthood The high school and college years: an extended roller coaster of academics, friends, first loves, first break-ups, driver’s ed, jobs, and everything in between. Kids are constantly changing and how we parent them must change, too. But how do we stay close as a family as our lives move apart? Enter the co-founders of Grown and Flown, Lisa Heffernan and Mary Dell Harrington. In the midst of guiding their own kids through this transition, they launched what has become the largest website and online community for parents of fifteen to twenty-five year olds. Now they’ve compiled new takeaways and fresh insights from all that they’ve learned into this handy, must-have guide. Grown and Flown is a one-stop resource for parenting teenagers, leading up to—and through—high school and those first years of independence. It covers everything from the monumental (how to let your kids go) to the mundane (how to shop for a dorm room). Organized by topic—such as academics, anxiety and mental health, college life—it features a combination of stories, advice from professionals, and practical sidebars. Consider this your parenting lifeline: an easy-to-use manual that offers support and perspective. Grown and Flown is required reading for anyone looking to raise an adult with whom you have an enduring, profound connection.




You Make Your Parents Super Happy!


Book Description

Hey! I think you should know that there is nothing your parents are more proud of... than YOU!' This simple graphic story helps children whose parents are separating to feel better. The book says why some parents have to live in different places, reminds the child how special they are to both parents, and reassures them that both parents will keep looking after them, and love them just as before. Getting to the heart of what children need to hear in what can be a confusing time, the story lets your child know that they are loved and safe, and that this will not change. Ideal for children aged 3-7.




When Love Ends and the Ice Cream Carton is Empty


Book Description

Losing a hope-filled dating relationship is a stressful and painful event. And when it seems to occur again, again, and again, is ice cream the only refuge for a Christian single? As one who has walked this road before, author Jackie M. Johnson says an emphatic, "no!" While most books for singles tell readers how to get the next guy, When Love Ends and the Ice Cream Carton is Empty encourages a healthy healing process. Practical and biblically based, each chapter guides the reader through a metaphorical day of restoration. Twilight recognizes and deals with endings, night grieves the loss and heals emotional pain, dawn awakens hope, and day is the new beginning based on the solid assurance of Christ. When Love Ends will help heal your heart--and help change your life. Chapters conclude with discussions questions for individual or group study, helpful Bible verses, and a prayer.




Do You Ever Cry, Dad?


Book Description

The help divorcing dads need to survive marital breakdown while staying close to their kids. Divorce and separation are overwhelmingly sad, especially when kids are involved. In Do You Ever Cry, Dad? I.J. Schecter shares his experience, stories from other fathers, and insights from family experts to provide practical and emotional support to dads going through the anguish of a split, and to help them maintain a loving and healthy relationship with those who matter most in their lives: their children. Filled with emotional and practical help, concrete research, and a deep understanding of the pain and processing marital breakup involves, Do You Ever Cry, Dad? aims to help dads get themselves and their kids through one of the hardest changes in their lives. Honest, heartfelt, and compassionate, this book is here to instill in any dad hope in place of the despair and hurt he may be keeping to himself.




Baby Bomb


Book Description

Before you succeed at parenting, you need to succeed as a couple! Baby Bomb is the resource you need when a new baby turns your life—and your romantic relationship—upside down. A baby is a blessing—and also a completely life-altering event. If you’re like many new parents, nothing could have fully prepared you for the exhaustion of late-night feedings, the explosive diapers, the evaporation of your free time, the pure joy, and the moments of pure terror. In the midst of these hazy, early months, it’s normal to feel overwhelmed. And when you’re overwhelmed, it’s easy to put your romantic relationship on the back burner. But, more and more, research shows that in order to be the best parents you can be, you and your partner need to make sure that your needs—as a couple—are also met. Written by a psychologist and relationship expert, Baby Bomb offers powerful tools based in psychology and neurobiology to help you and your partner co-parent and co-partner as a solid and supportive team—while also cultivating mad love for each other! You’ll find more than just “tips” for better parenting and partnering; you’ll discover how a secure-functioning relationship is essential for raising happy, healthy kids. This isn’t a book with advice about how to have a romantic candlelit dinner while your baby is screaming in the other room. It’s a road map for getting on the same page about your expectations as parents, about your needs as humans, and about how to maintain a strong and lasting relationship in the face of, well, a baby bomb.




"I Didn't Divorce My Kids!"


Book Description

Popular culture often portrays divorced fathers as deadbeats who have little interest in caring for the emotional, physical, and financial needs of their children. In the stereotype-shattering book, "I Didn't Divorce My Kids!", Gerhard Amendt presents the long-neglected plight of the divorced father who is plagued by grief and loneliness after being separated from his children. Based on surveys and in-depth interviews of thousands of such dads, Amendt reveals how fathers cope with trying to salvage their own lives while simultaneously maintaining relationships with their children after a painful divorce. Amendt's incisive look at divided families also explores the impact that a single-parent household has on children's well-being, criticizing the American tendency to over-pathologize normal reactions to familial upheaval. Even the most civilized of divorces, Amendt argues, can cause rage, sadness, potential health problems, and behavioral disturbances in otherwise well-adjusted children. The broad spectrum of experiences recounted in "I Didn't Divorce My Kids!" will be essential reading for anyone interested in, or personally shaped by, the changing face of the modern family.