Divorce Helpbook for Kids

by Cynthia MacGregor

Overview

It's in the news every day: divorce is tough on kids. MacGregor knows how tough, and she has prepared a down-to-earth guide that genuinely helps. Included are discussions of many topics troubling kids when their parents divorce: reasons parents get divorced; ways the divorce will change kids' lives; kids' feelings about divorce; things kids can do to help them feel better; who to talk to; what's likely to happen next. This is not just a book for kids about divorce, though. It's a book about life after divorce, too. The kids in MacGregor's book are dealing with visitation and custody and straddling two households and making it all work. Maybe it isn't easy, but it is possible and it is necessary. Recommended for children ages 8-12. Contains a newly updated resources guide for parents and children and a “Note to Parents” by Hugh R. Leavell, PhD, author of The One-Minute Therapist, and Palm Beach Post columnist.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781886230392
Publisher:	New Harbinger Publications
Publication date:	08/01/2001
Series:	Rebuilding Books Series
Edition description:	Children 8-12
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	399,510
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Cynthia MacGregor is the author of nearly 50 books for parents and children, many with a focus on helping kids through difficult situations. A divorced mother herself, she helped her own daughter (now an adult) cope with parental divorce, and brings real-life experience to the subject of this book.

Editorial Reviews

This is an essential book to be read by both parents and their children separately and together. It will enable each child and his or her parents to experience the divorce as a joint learning process toward greater personal growth. The inclusion of a ‘Bill of Rights for Children Whose Parents Are Divorced,’ the ‘Glossary: What All Those Bog Words Mean,’ and ‘Resources for Parents and Children’ can be of enormous help to divorced families.”
—Mel Krantzler, PhD, author, The New Creative Divorce


“The Divorce Helpbook for Kids is an excellent book to help young people understand what the family is going through. It explains legal terms such as custody and helps the child to know what to expect and how to behave to avoid problems... The wealth of information and healthy suggestions will save the family many pitfalls, heartbreak and pain.”
—Pat Palmer, EdD, author, I Wish I Could Hold Your Hand, co-author, Teen Esteem


“...I shared the book with my 12-year old daughter... She agrees that the suggestions (in this book) would be invaluable to children facing a part of their lives which is hard, but not impossible.”
—Barbara Walton, Attorney at Law, author, 101 Little Instructions for Surviving Your Divorce

From the Publisher

Gr 4-8-MacGregor introduces herself as a divorced mom with the suggestion that her experience makes this book more meaningful to her readers. She attempts to talk directly to them and to be comforting and nonthreatening. However, there are certain underlying assumptions that detract from her effectiveness. She begins with two stereotypical examples: a girl who has a terrible day at school later experiences all the comforts that home can provide because her parents are not divorced. The second example is of a boy who has had a great day at school but comes home to an empty house, missing his dad's possessions as well as his physical presence. There are few discussions of the child who has moved from the house or the neighborhood. There are more positive statements about women than about men; in discussing the conflicts between parents the author mentions a father's lack of paying alimony three times and that follows shortly thereafter with the affirmation that a mother is not disloyal if she dates other men. The strengths of the book are the various alternatives suggested to conflicts that arise and the suggestions that readers take questions to parents or other close, responsible adults.-Edith Ching, St. Albans School, Mt. St. Alban, Washington, DC Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

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