Menasha Public Library (Elisha D. Smith)

How to raise your adult children, because big kids have even bigger problems, Gail Parent and Susan Ende

eng

no index present

non fiction

How to raise your adult children

456171776

Gail Parent and Susan Ende

because big kids have even bigger problems

In this guide, comedy writer Gail Parent and noted psychotherapist Susan Ende teach parents how to handle their grown kids. They combine their wit and expertise in this collection of letters from parents facing issues with grown children. According to the U.S. Census, 55% of men and 48% of women ages 18 to 24 are living with their parents: this trend has given rise to a host of financial and lifestyle conflicts. In separate chapters, each with an introductory section, the authors answer questions relating to money, the college years, living arrangements, work, dating, family rituals, marriage, in-laws, grandchildren, divorce, and aging and illness. The questions, gathered from friends, relatives, and "strangers" are wide-ranging, from what to do when a college student trades the car his parents bought him for a motorcycle, to how to deal with a dad who is dating his daughter's 28-year-old girlfriend. The authors' overriding theme, that adult children are separate from parents, who must respect their right to make their own choices in order to foster independence, rings true. There are many books out there to teach you how to handle your children after they graduate from diapers, but none tells you how to proceed once they graduate from high school. As new patterns emerge in the lives of young adults, parents find that their grown children have bigger problems than they did just a few years ago. This is a manual for anxious moms and dads. Whether confronting the question of setting a curfew for a college kid at home, or paying for a forty-year-old daughter's wedding, two "been there, done that" moms give advice with an edge on a variety of emotionally and financially perilous situations, including: your kid needs money, your money, your kid moves back home and stays home, you know your child should not marry their significant other, your big children keep dumping their little children on you. This book answers questions most parents never imagined they would have to ask

Money -- The college years -- Young adults : living arrangements -- Work -- Dating -- Family rituals -- Marriage -- In-laws -- Grandchildren -- Divorce -- Aging and illness