About this item
The purpose of Empty Nest, What's Next? is to help parents adjust to their changing roles as parents of adult children. Unlike the first eighteen years of parenting, moms and dads now take on more of an advisory role and step out of the daily hands-on instructional role. In theory, this stepping to the sidelines parenting style should lead to a simpler, less stress-free life for the parents. However, real-life parenting young adults is often much more challenging than all the earlier years put together. Combine young adult immaturity with a dangerous world, and parents frequently find themselves beset with worry, fear, and anxiety. Intellectually letting go is one thing; emotionally letting go is much more difficult, especially when the consequences are adult sized. This resource will offer parents true stories of other moms and dads who are facing the very same challenges. Parents will discover a biblical model of faith-inspiring exercises that enable them to not simply cope with the demands of parenting their young adult children, but also to find peace, freedom, and joy in the process. Empty Nest, What's Next? will offer encouragement, practical suggestions, and lots of comical asides to the always-evolving role of parenting.Table of Contents:1. Entering the Empty Nest (or Almost There) 2. Accepting that Parenting Mistakes Are Done Deals3. Keeping First Things First Faith Then Family4. Learning to Step Back and Occasionally Advise5. Riding the Emotional Roller Coaster 6. Recognizing that Adult Children Make Adult-Sized Mistakes 7. Welcoming Your Children s Future Dates and Mates8. Recreating Your Life with Children on the Sidelines 9. Reinvesting in Your Marriage 10. Viewing Your Adult Children as Peers and Equals 11. Twisting the Plot You re a Grandparent 12. Stepping in to Parent Your Grandchildren in a Crisis13. Building Good Relationships with Your Children s In-Laws 14. Redefining Your Role in Life Now 15. Letting Adult Children Become Fiscally Responsible 16. Reinventing Life Goals from Midlife and Beyond 17. Helping Adult Children Endure the Difficult Seasons of Life 18. Having Fun Even When Your Adult Children Have Problems 19. Welcoming Untimely Interruptions 20. Supporting Your Adult Children through a Crisis 21. Giving Counsel When Your Adult Children Want to Give Up 22. Investing in People Other than Your Adult Children23. Allowing Adult Children to Move Back Home24. Banishing Worry for Good25. Applying Tough Love as Needed 26. Being Hopeful When Your Adult Child s Life Falls Apart 27. Praying for Something You Can t Talk About 28. Asking for Forgiveness as Needed29. Learning from Your Adult Children with Grace 30. Loving Them Unconditionally
About the Author
Michele Howe is a reviewer for Publishers Weekly, FaithfulReader.com, Retailers Resources, Foreword Magazine, TeenReads.com, KidReads.com, among many others national and international publications. She has published over 2500 reviews/articles and has been featured on numerous radio shows across the country speaking on topics such as parenting and a diverse range of women's health issues. Her work has been published in MORE, FIRST for Women, Good Housekeeping, Christianity Today, Discipleship Journal, Midwest Living, Parentlife, Fullfill, Christian Single, Single Parent Family, Focus on the Family, PRISM, and Connections. She also does copywriting and manuscript reviewing for several publishing houses including New Growth Press.
Michele is the author of seventeen books for women. Her book, "Going It Alone: Meeting the Challenges of Being a Single Mom" (Hendrickson Publishers) , provided hope and practical helps for single moms new to parenting solo. She has also authored "Pilgrim Prayers for Single Mothers" (Pilgrim Press) and a third book of helps for single mothers titled, "Successful Single Moms" (Pilgrim Press.) In addition to these resources for single mothers, Michele wrote four separate titles combining real life stories with inspirational prayer retreats. These titles published by (Jossey-Bass) include: "Prayers for Homeschooling Moms," "Prayers to Nourish a Woman's Heart," "Prayers of Comfort and Strength" and "Prayers for New and Expecting Moms."
Her newest books include a follow-up resource to "Going It Alone" titled, "Still Going It Alone: Mothering with Faith and Finesse Once the Children Have Grown" (Hendrickson Publishers) and "Burdens Do a Body Good: Meeting Life's Challenges with Strength and Soul" co-authored with orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Christopher A. Foetisch (Hendrickson Publishers) .
One Size Fits All: Making Meaningful Choices, Stepping Into a Meaningful Life was released in early 2013 by Lighthouse of the Carolinas. Burden Lifters: Every Woman's Every Day Resource Kit for a Healthy, Happy Life was released by Bondfire Books in late 2013 and ACTA Publications released, "Faith, Friends, and Other Floatation Devices" which is a compilation of stories, quotes, and practical lifestyle recommendations for "staying afloat" during life's toughest times in 2014. Empty Nest, What's Next: Parenting Adult Children without Losing Your Mind was released in 2015 by Hendrickson Publishers. Coming fall of 2016 is Caring for Our Aging Parents: Lessons in Love, Loss, and Letting Go. Michele is currently working a sequel to Empty Nest, What's Next to be released in fall of 2017.
In addition to her article and books writing, Michele writes a weekly women's lifestyle and single parenting column at HopeAfterDivorce.org. She is also featured in
