Newly updated, The Empty Nest is an uplifting, practical and inspiring guide to adjusting to life after your children leave home. More than half a million parents confront the empty nest for the first time each year. It is one of the most challenging phases of parenting, often creating feelings of loss, lack of purpose and crisis of identity which can lead to depression. Yet it receives little recognition. And contrary to popular opinion it doesn't only affect women who've put their careers on hold: working mothers and fathers suffer too. Equally, it can be a period of liberation and discovery of new challenges, when marriages long overstressed by childcare can be rejuvenated. The Empty Nest includes case studies documenting a wide range of experiences of parents living through an empty nest; expert comment and advice; plenty of practical ideas, inspiration and tips. This encouraging, empowering books helps you to focus on the positive as well as how to handle the changing relationship with your children to ensure a fulfilling and good relationship going forward, an area of parenting often ignored.

INCLUDES INTERVIEWS WITH BERTIE AHERN, MARY KENNEDY, SEAN O'ROUKE, MARY COUGHLAN AND MANY OTHERS. What was life like for Ireland's grandparents when they were young? What has changed for the better? What values do they wish to hand down? In these pages, grandmother and chronicler of times past Valerie Cox talks to fellow grandparents, creating an unforgettable trip down memory lane. Through schooldays, dating, jiving, child-rearing, working life, holidays, fashion and more, memories are shared of a pre-digital age when the world seemed smaller and community life was central. They also describe the magic of the grandparent-grandchild relationship, and their hopes for the upcoming generation. Full of tender or surprising reminiscences from across Ireland, along with revelations on what truly matters in life, When I Was Your Age includes contributions from some of Ireland's best known grandparents - a beautiful gift and a time capsule for the future.

This highly original book argues for increased recognition of pregnancy, birthing and childrearing as social activities demanding simultaneously physical, intellectual, emotional and moral work from those who undertake them. Amy Mullin considers both parenting and paid childcare, and examines the impact of disability on this work. The first chapters contest misconceptions about pregnancy and birth such as the idea that pregnancy is only valued for its end result, and not also for the process. Following chapters focus on childcare provided in different circumstances and on the needs of both providers and receivers of care. The book challenges the assumption that isolated self-sacrifice should be the norm in either pregnancy or childcare. Instead reproductive labor requires greater social support. Written from the perspective of a feminist philosopher, the book draws on the work of, and seeks to increase dialogue between, philosophers and childcare professionals, disability theorists, nurses and sociologists.