About this item
needy ourselves: as adults and parents, we find that we have unresolved raising issues, basic needs that were not met in our childhoods. Our needs and memories echo and influence many of the parenting decisions we make, even though we're unaware of those influences at times. connecting us to some earlier time in our life when we encountered distress. We dredge up a lesson, and we adapt by adhering to or changing the story that we tell ourselves about who we are. We re-negotiate the five basic needs that surface from our childhood memories as our youngsters pass through each of the developmental phases. The self-aware parent focuses on creative problem solving by focusing on one interaction at a time. It Takes a Child to Raise a Parent offers an exploration of how our own childhood memories and needs influence and shape our parenting decisions in our adult lives. Offering tips, stories from a variety of families, and step by step exercises, Janis Johnston helps parents better understand and grasp the tools necessary to face parenting challenges head on, and to explore new ways of understanding ourselves, our children, and our family interactions. Expectant parents and current parents interested in understanding their own personality development as well as the many moods of childhood and their own children, will find clear guidelines for understanding their roles in their children's lives as well as concrete suggestions for how to navigate the choppy waters of raising children.
About the Author
Born between 1946 and 1964, the baby boomers bloomed, well most of them. The generation following the Boomers (born between 1965-1981) , Generation X, germinated and grew. Well, most of them. Have you found yourself wilting in midlife, and wondering what you might do to flourish in your remaining years?
Has parenting challenged you? Many of us lack appreciation for our childhoods and the complex lessons we gather from them until we have a child of our own. Lamaze classes do not cover parenting technique. In fact, my Lamaze classes did not even mention the possibilities that my husband and I encountered in the labor and delivery of our first child. I wrote It Takes a Child to Raise a Parent to compile the developmental knowledge I wish I had when I first gave birth. There are few parenting classes anywhere in our educational programs. From 30 years of practice as a school psychologist and family therapist, this book is a user-friendly guidebook taking readers from the parent preparation developmental stage (yes, this means sex) to grandparent development.
Perhaps you have lost your way in the midlife maze due to a significant loss. Did you lose your job or desired career advancement? Did you separate or divorce? Did your last child leave home? Did your family experience a virtual storm of bankruptcy? Or did a real storm -- a tornado or hurricane -- demolish your home? Did you or someone in your family experience the loss of good health? Or did you weather the death of a family member, partner, or friend? Ready or not, many changes flood midlife. I lost four precious family members in midlife. LOSS was a major topic for many of my clients in my family therapy private practice. I wrote Midlife Maze -- A Map to Recovery and Rediscovery -- to describe a path forward after experiencing loss by viewing broken dreams as fertilizer for new dreams. Life is precious. Every day matters. In order to really thrive, you need a purpose, a kind of self-investment.
