Family for Life

by Kathy Peel

Overview

When the kids you told to Grow up! really do...

Pat yourself on the back! You survived the harrowing sleepless nights nursing high fevers and waiting up for your kids to come home from their first date. The hard part is over, and now it's time to sit back, relax, and reap the rewards of those countless Saturday mornings spent at the soccer field. Right? Wrong! Parenting doesn't automatically stop on a child's eighteenth birthday. Learn how much (or how little) advice, emotional support, and financial backing to offer adult children.

Kathy Peel, best-selling author and founder of Family Manager, Inc., draws from her three decades of professional and personal experience to guide you in your "new" role as parents of grown children. She offers positive and practical ways to help your offspring become successful adults. Each chapter offers insightful ideas as well as helpful do's and don'ts. You'll learn how to:

• Prepare kids to leave the nest and land on their feet
• Give support without becoming a full-time parent again
• Be a dreambuilder, not a dreambuster
• Repair relationships with older children and show love in ways that matter
• Make your home a magnet so older children want to come back to visit
• Deal with difficult in-laws
• Be a great grandmother
• Keep your clan connected as it expands
• Carve out time and space for yourself as you continue to care for others

Learn how to be a great mother for a lifetime with the sage advice found in Family for Life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780071425988
Publisher:	McGraw-Hill Education
Publication date:	05/23/2003
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Kathy Peel is best-selling author and founder and president of Family Manager, Inc. She is a contributing editor to Family Circle and writes regularly for many other magazines, such as American Profile. She has been a repeat guest on "Oprah" and has also appeared on "Today," "The Early Show," "Good Morning America," and CNN.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	1
Chapter 1	Build a Bridge Between Generations	7
Chapter 2	Prepare Kids Well for Life on Their Own	29
Chapter 3	Mend Broken Fences and Love in Ways that Matter	45
Chapter 4	Be a Dreambuilder, Not a Dreambuster	71
Chapter 5	Keep the Porch Light On and the Home Fire Burning	93
Chapter 6	Keep Your Clan Connected	119
Chapter 7	How to Be a Really Great Grandparent	145
Chapter 8	Who Will Nurture the Nurturer?	179
Chapter 9	What Family Is All About	201
Chapter 10	The Portable Mom: The Mother of All Resources	227
	Parting Words	275
	Index	277

Editorial Reviews

Although few books are available on the subject, we all know that the parent-child relationship lasts a lifetime. These two books contribute to our understanding of that relationship, although neither is a comprehensive study. In When Our Grown Kids Disappoint Us, Adams, who has a doctorate in psychology and has worked with families for two decades, takes a hard look at parenting children who fail to thrive as adults-e.g., who remain dependent on their parents well into their thirties, have substance abuse problems, or commit crimes-and offers advice to parents on breaking the cycle and developing lives of their own without breaking the bond with their child. Though she offers comfort and support to heartbroken parents, much of the book helps them learn how to hand the responsibility for their adult lives back to their children and let go of the guilt. In Family for Life, Peel, founder and president of Family Manager, Inc., and a frequent guest on Oprah, offers advice to parents of young adults as they make the transition from home to college or job, independent living, and establishing their own families. Her book suggests what practical life skills need to be taught (laundry, safety, and home repair), communication skills that can enhance the relationship, how to make a home adult children will want to visit, and how to take care of oneself. Most public libraries will want to purchase both of these titles, which serve the needs of two different audiences.-Kay Brodie, Chesapeake Coll., Wye Mills, MD Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

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