Jane Adams has spent over two decades researching and reporting on how Americans live, work, and love, and especially how they respond to social change. A frequent media commentator, she has appeared on every major radio and television program. The author of eight nonfiction books and three novels, she is a talented communicator, and an expert in managing personal, professional and family boundaries, dealing with grown children, coping with change, and balancing life and work. A graduate of Smith College, Jane Adams holds a Ph.D. in social psychology and has studied at Seattle Institute of Psychoanalysis and the Washington, D.C. Psychoanalytic Foundation. She has been an award-winning journalist, a founding editor of the Seattle Weekly, and an adjunct professor at the University of Washington. She is the recipient of the Family Advocate of the Year award from "Changes," an organization devoted to improving relationships between parents and adolescent children.
Although few books are available on the subject, we all know that the parent-child relationship lasts a lifetime. These two books contribute to our understanding of that relationship, although neither is a comprehensive study. In When Our Grown Kids Disappoint Us, Adams, who has a doctorate in psychology and has worked with families for two decades, takes a hard look at parenting children who fail to thrive as adults-e.g., who remain dependent on their parents well into their thirties, have substance abuse problems, or commit crimes-and offers advice to parents on breaking the cycle and developing lives of their own without breaking the bond with their child. Though she offers comfort and support to heartbroken parents, much of the book helps them learn how to hand the responsibility for their adult lives back to their children and let go of the guilt. In Family for Life, Peel, founder and president of Family Manager, Inc., and a frequent guest on Oprah, offers advice to parents of young adults as they make the transition from home to college or job, independent living, and establishing their own families. Her book suggests what practical life skills need to be taught (laundry, safety, and home repair), communication skills that can enhance the relationship, how to make a home adult children will want to visit, and how to take care of oneself. Most public libraries will want to purchase both of these titles, which serve the needs of two different audiences.-Kay Brodie, Chesapeake Coll., Wye Mills, MD Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
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