Beyond the Mommy Years: How to Live Happily Ever After...After the Kids Leave Home
Search in google:
Thirty million mothers between 40 and 60 years old are about to face childless households for the first time in decades. For some women, it is a lonely and confusing time; but for the vast majority, it's a journey of joy and discovery. Through intensive and wide-ranging original research, author Carin Rubenstein reveals how and why some mothers thrive and others do not. She breaks the post-motherhood launch down into three stages—grief, relief, and joy. If a woman makes it through to the final stage, friendships blossom, work thrives, and she develops a renewed sense of confidence and well-being. While in many instances, increased time together hastens the end of a struggling marriage, most women discover their relationships improve when children leave. BEYOND THE MOMMY YEARS offers fascinating research, helpful advice, and amusing anecdotes to the millions facing this uncertain but potentially enriching stage of life."An encouraging counterarguement to the idea that an empty nest leads to an empty life."—Library Journal"Carin Rubenstein, PhD., nails it: Any woman worried about her post-car pool life should read this book."—Sally Koslow, mother of two sons in their twenties, and author of Little Pink Slips"Beyond the Mommy Years bridges the knowledge void felt by so many moms after their children leave for college...A thoughtful discussion of the positive changes that lie ahead for mothers after our children are launched. While parenting never ends, this book provides moms with the tools to live a rich and full life."—Linda Perlman Gordon & Susan Morris Shaffer, co-authors of Mom, Can I Move Back in with You? Erica L. Foley - Library Journal Approximately 30 million mothers will have childless households and adult children in the coming decades, signifying a major shift in the lives of baby-boomer women. Social psychologist Rubenstein (The Sacrificial Mother) has written an encouraging counterargument to the idea that an empty nest leads to an empty life. Instead, Rubenstein breaks down the postmotherhood experience into stages of grief, relief, and joy, offering women strategies for thriving after their children have left home. By combining examples from sociological and psychological research studies and her own focus groups, Rubenstein serves up hope, humor, and practicality. Readers will find coverage of all aspects of a woman's life when the children leave home-marriage, work, sex, friendships, health and aging, distance parenting, leisure, and purpose. Perhaps most helpful are Rubenstein's suggestions for the last year before a child leaves home-to make the transition easier for both child and mother. This thoughtful examination of a major life transition will delight readers at most public libraries.
Introduction viiThere Is No Empty-Nest Syndrome 1The Countdown Year 34Three Stages of MotherLaunch 61Back to Stage Zero 100The Great Changes in Change of Life 135Making or Breaking Marriage 163Sexuality: All My Doors Are Open 200Mistress of Work, Princess of Friendship 234Coming Into Your Own (Again) 266Acknowledgments 305Notes 307Index 322
