It's a real shocker-such incredible news You are going to be a grandmother What should you do? Where do you begin? Remarkably, your offspring is pregnant and you are having a grandbaby "in Less Than Nine Months " It's hard to imagine this complex transition. You gave "them" life and now they give "you" new life

"Get Ready to Be a Grandmother" is an insightful journey through the trimesters of pregnancy, delving into the communication issues and challenges of this life-altering, newborn dimension called Grandmotherhood. Get Ready is your definitive Guidebook to Grandmothering, laying a concrete foundation for the road ahead.

A lifelong educator and PR professional communicator, Dr. Susan: the Gramma Guru(R) teaches you how to maximize your time, energy, and resources through involvement rather than intrusion. If you are joining the ten thousand Baby Boomers becoming grandmothers "every day," "Get Ready" is the book to curl up with during the exciting months ahead

Do you have a self-absorbed or narcissistic parent who's made you feel rejected, unloved, or unworthy? Being a parent is usually all about giving of yourself to foster your child's growth and development. But what happens when this isn't the case? Some parents dismiss the needs of their children, asserting their own instead, demanding attention and reassurance from even very young children. This may especially be the case when a parent has narcissistic tendencies or narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). This fully revised and updated edition of a self-help classic offers a step-by-step approach to resolving conflict and building a meaningful relationship with a narcissistic parent. Children of the Self-Absorbed offers clear definitions of narcissism and narcissistic personality disorder to help you identify the extent of your parent's problem. You'll learn the different types of destructive narcissism and how to recognise their effects on your relationships. Packed with proven techniques, you'll realise that you're not helpless against your parent's behaviour, and that you don't have to give up on the relationship. Instead, you'll find realistic strategies and steps for setting up mutually agreed upon behaviours, so you can fulfil your own emotional needs. In this new edition, you'll discover: *Skills for managing intense emotions *Tools for building character, self-esteem and self-acceptance *How kindness and gratitude can promote self-healing *How to build trust and empathy with others If you're ready to begin healing from the pain of growing up with a self-absorbed parent and establish the boundaries you need to thrive - this book will guide you, one step at a time.

Today, approximately 1.6 million American children live in what social scientists call "grandfamilies"-households in which children are being raised by their grandparents. In You've Always Been There for Me, Rachel Dunifon uses data gathered from grandfamilies in New York to analyze their unique strengths and distinct needs. Though grandfamilies can benefit from the accumulated wisdom of mature adults raising children for a second time, Dunifon notes, such families also face high rates of health problems as well as parenting challenges related to a large generation gap. Grandfamilies are also largely hidden in American society, flying under the radar of social service agencies, policymakers, and family researchers. This book gives family researchers a greater understanding of a unique family form, and also offers service providers, policymakers and the general public important information about the lives of an important group of American families.

"The Caregiving Trap" combines the authentic life and professional experience of Pamela D. Wilson, who provides recommendations for overwhelmed and frustrated caregivers who themselves may one day need care. "The Caregiving Trap" includes stories about Pamela's actual personal and professional experience along with end of chapter exercises to support caregivers. Common caregiving issues include: A sense of duty and obligation to provide care that damages family relationships Emotional and financial challenges resulting in denial of care needs Ignorance of predictive events that result in situations of crises or harm Delayed decision making and lack of planning resulting in limited choices Minimum standards of care supporting the need for advocacy

Mapping out a "family constellation," explains Dr. Joy Manne, encompasses exploring previous powerful life events from accidents to adoptions and accessing the deepest dynamics in that family system. This process helps us recognize and then resolve deeply seated family patterns. For example, in order to understand a person's inability to trust, the family history of betrayal must be uncovered and released. These insights replace resentment with respect, pain with understanding.
Dr. Manne uses the knowledge gained from her own practice as well as her educational experiences with Bert Hellinger, the founder of Family Constellations therapy, to clearly describe this technique. Most family constellation sessions are carried out in a group setting, with the facilitator first seeking clarity regarding the issue or problem the client has come to work out. Representatives are then chosen from among the group and the constellation is set up and worked in until it comes to resolution. This may be followed by a closing ritual and advice about how to integrate what the constellation has revealed. Through the use of real-life examples of family constellations, Dr. Manne makes this increasingly popular practice understandable and relatable.

Transform Your Relationship with Your Difficult Narcissistic Mother "An empowering book that offers clarity and validation as well as strategies for freeing yourself from the control of an unhealthy mother relationship." Susan Forward Ph.D., author of Toxic Parents and Mothers who Can't Love #1 Bestseller in Codependency The best news on the planet is that your mother doesn't have to change in order for you to be happy. In fact, author Karen C.L. Anderson takes it a step further to say, your difficult narcissistic mother doesn't have to change in order for you to be free, peaceful, content, and joyful. Emotional detachment from your narcissistic mother without guilt. Inspired by her own journey, Anderson shows women how to emotionally separate from their difficult mothers without guilt and anxiety, so they can finally create a life based on their own values, desires, needs, and preferences. Learn through the experiences of others. The book is filled with personal stories and experiences, practical tools, and journal prompts that can be used now to experience the joy of letting go. Anderson compassionately leads women struggling in their relationships with their toxic mothers through a process of self-awareness and understanding. Her experience with hundreds of women has resulted in cases of profound growth and transformation. Funny and compassionate. This book is about Karen discovering and accepting the whole of who she is (separate from her mother), and making her discoveries accessible to women struggling to redefine their challenging relationships with their mothers. Her writing is relatable, real, funny, and compassionate. Inside learn: Why mother daughter relationships can be toxic How to heal and transform your mother "wounds" The art of creating and maintaining impeccable boundaries If you liked Codependent No More, Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents, or Henry Cloud's Boundaries, you'll love Difficult Mothers, Adult Daughters.

Are you one of the countless people who grew up with emotionally immature parents? If you suffer from this troubling parent/child dynamic, you may still recall painful moments from your childhood when your emotional needs were not met, when your feelings were dismissed, or when you took on adult levels of maturity in an effort to "compensate" for your parents' behavior. And while you likely cultivated strengths such as self-reliance and independence along the way- strengths that have served you well as an adult-having to be the emotionally mature person in your relationship with your parent is confusing and even damaging. If you are ready to gain the insight you need to move on from feelings of loneliness and abandonment and find healthy ways to meet your own emotional needs, this book will help light the way. You'll discover the four main types of emotionally immature parents: *Emotional parents, who may vacillate between over-involvement and abandonment, leading to frightening instability and unpredictability *Driven parents, who are often compulsively busy and can't stop trying to perfect everything, including other people *Passive parents, who may have a laissez-faire mindset and avoid dealing with anything upsetting *Rejecting parents, who may withdraw from any relationship with their child, showing either detachment or anger as primary responses All emotionally immature parents have one defining characteristic in common, even if they differ in style-none of them puts their child's needs first. This book will show you that you are not to blame for your parent's behavior. It also offers real skills for handling difficult family situations and moving on from the emotional wounds of your childhood. If you are ready to gain a greater understanding of both your parents and yourself, this book provides a much-needed guide.

How to Survive Your Teenage Daughter's Pregnancy If your daughter just rattled your world with the words, "Mom, I don't know how to tell you this, but I'm pregnant..." you may be wondering, "How are we going to get through this and be OK?" There are so many books written about teenage pregnancy, but none that understand what's in the heads and hearts of the moms who are now guiding their daughters through this very difficult season of their lives. Help! My Teen Is Pregnant will restore your personal power when you feel like your whole world just blew up!

Tens of millions of Americans either suffer from Alzheimer's or care for someone who does. In a single generation, that number will triple. Jeanne Murray Walker's memoir speaks with compassionate wisdom about the gifts that wait to be discovered even in the midst of this grim disease. As Walker cares for her mother during her heartrending decline, she, her sister and her mother develop closer ties. The intimate look at illness and death-hardly acknowledged by our culture-becomes another sort of gift and after spending thousands of hours with her mother, Jeanne begins to recover her own early memories and understand her history in a transformative way. THE GEOGRAPHY OF MEMORY reveals that for all the grim news about Alzheimer's, it is possible to find joy and hope in the midst of pain. The story is made up of three braided strands. Two are narrative: the present story of caring for her mother and the past story of Walker's childhood memories. The third strand is a series of pithy Field Notes that anchor the book in practical reflections on memory. Interwoven are chapters which flash back to Walker's teenage battles with her feisty, valiant, widowed mother. Only because Walker slowed down and spent thousands of hours in the company of her mother during the last decade of her life was she able to recover these memories. The field notes are short, poetic pauses in the narrative that address memory: what it is, how it works, how it can be strengthened, what happens when it goes away. Geography of Memory is the hopeful story about Alzheimer's that readers are waiting to hear.

"They've always wanted me to be open and honest with them, I've spent years explaining stuff to them, and sometimes they still don't understand everything" - Milly, 16 "Your parents aren't actually hatching a plan to ruin your life..." Jim, 52 From minor matters (tidiness, homework, sleep) to big and important ones (relationships, mental ill health, drugs and alcohol), teenagers and their parents often struggle to talk to each other - and talking is key if your young person is facing new challenges as they leave childhood behind. A well-timed conversation, a listening ear, a non-judgemental and receptive attitude - all these can make an enormous and lasting impact on how safely and happily a teenager navigates this crucial stage of their development. Oh, if only it were that easy. It's not always easy to talk to your teenager, or for them to talk to you, but it is critical and may even be life-saving. This book draws extensively on hundreds of conversations that Fiona Spargo-Mabbs has conducted with young people and parents in focus groups and school and college workshops, to give a framework for tackling tough conversations about difficult things, without judgement or anger. It gives context and insight, based on the latest neuroscience findings on the teenage brain and, importantly, it gives hundreds of prompts and plenty of practical suggestions and strategies to make communication between parents and young people a two-way street that builds the foundations for a strong relationship with your adult child. Covering everything from the small stuff, like curfews and screen time, to the tough stuff of sex, self-harm and suicide, this is a warm, compassionate and important book that draws on lived experience and the lives of young people as they are, not as we think they might, or should, be.

My Father's Glass Eye is Jeannie's struggle to honour her father, her larger-than-life hero, but also the man who named her after his daughter from a previous marriage, a daughter who died. After his funeral, Jeannie spends the next decade in escalating mania, in and out of hospitals - increasingly obsessed with the other Jeanne. Obsession turns to investigation as she plumbs her childhood awareness of her dead half-sibling and hunts for clues into the mysterious circumstances of her death. It becomes a puzzle she she must solve to better understand herself and her father. Jeannie pulls us into her unravelling with such intimacy that her insanity becomes palpable, even logical. A brilliant exploration of the human psyche, My Father's Glass Eye deepens our definitions of love, sanity, grief, and recovery.

This story is a true, revealing, and sometimes shocking insight into the little known world of educational test publishing and the gamble that led the flamboyant Ethel Clark to become one of the industry's major players. How she grew the business (once known as California Test Bureau, now CTB/McGraw-Hill) and dealt with the IRS, the unions, the U.S. Army, and her scholarly husband, Willis, was far from traditional, and her personal life was often scandalous. Ethel's drive to "be somebody," her disregard for conventional behavior, and her foresight in adopting leading-edge technology contrasted sharply with the persona of her husband Willis Clark, Ed.D. Willis was a pioneer in educational testing, who dedicated his life to the development of many nationally used educational tests and always emphasized the importance of designing tests with results to "help the teacher help the child." Ethel and Willis greatly influenced the growth and prominence of one of America's significant but controversial industries. An Appendix highlights test development from conception to the application of test results.

When eight-year-old Leah's parents get divorced, her mother, Cessie, flees her conventional life as a suburban housewife in search of a glamorous big city career in journalism. In the chaotic years that follow Cessie lurches from one apartment, job and toxic romance to the next, with her adoring daughter in tow. Cessie describes her parenting style as 'benign neglect' and their family motto 'Commitment sucks the life right out of you' is tacked up on every rental fridge. In the aftermath of a disturbing sexual experience at a pool party, Leah finds herself crippled with anxiety. When she confides in her mother, Cessie makes an astonishing disclosure in turn, one that alters everything: from the age of twelve to fifteen she was in a clandestine relationship with her middle-aged, married riding instructor. The damage inflicted by the 'Horseman', Cessie explains, is the reason for all her regrettable life choices - marriage, divorce and even motherhood itself. Both women spend the ensuing decades haunted by the spectre of the Horseman, until they decide to investigate what became of him - an ill-conceived quest that will test the bonds of love and redefine their relationship forever. Written with unflinching candour and wit, Where You End and I Begin explores the dark reverberations of victim narratives and the power of filial love.

So, you're having a teenager? Congratulations/commiserations. Worried about drugs? We recommend Valium, wine and HRT. Happy you survived the toddler tantrums? Let us introduce you to the eye roll, the cold shoulder and the incoherent mumble. On the bright side, you've reduced your need for Google - your adolescent is now able to frequently correct, hector and lecture you with their strong opinion on everything. And if you feel tired, you're not imagining it. Teen years are like dog years: for every year your teen ages, you age seven. You need a survival guide for the testing times ahead. Friends, next-door neighbours and fellow mums of teens Sarah Macdonald and Cathy Wilcox have lived through it all and produced this straight-talking, not entirely sarcastic, informative guide to what for many parents are the most challenging - but interesting and exciting - years in the role. From A is for Argumentative, Awkward and Angst, to Z is for Zits and Zzzzzs. Because having a toddler is a doddle.

In Changing Course, the best-selling sequel to It Will Never Happen to Me, Claudia Black extends a helping hand to individuals working through the painful experience of being raised with addiction in the family. ""How do you go from living according to the rules - Don't Talk, Don't Trust, Don't Feel - to a life where you are free to talk and trust and feel?"" Dr. Black asks. ""You do this through a process that teaches you to go to the source of those rules, to question them, and to create new rules of your own,"" she explains. Using charts, exercises, checklists, and real-life stories of adult children of alcoholics, Dr. Black guides readers in healing from the fear, shame, and chaos of addiction.