Aug. 11, 20100
BOOK REVIEW: Comedy Writer Gail Parent and Psychotherapist Susan Ende Give Advice to Parents in 'How to Raise Your Adult Children'
Reviewed By David M. Kinchen
Two-time Emmy Award-winning comedy writer Gail Parent might at first appear to be an unusual choice for an author of a book dispensing advice to parents of adult children, but Parent -- in combination with co-author psychotherapist Susan Ende -- really delivers the goods in their new book "How to Raise Your Adult Children" (Hudson Street Press, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA)/Aug 2010, 304 pages, $25.95).
Parent's writing and producing credits include Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, The Golden Girls, The Tracey Ullman Show, and The Carol Burnett Show, making her a superstar in the comedy writing business. She plays the comic in this book, with Ende playing the straight woman, but quite often their advice is basically the same -- except that Parent's is funnier. They don't always agree on their advice, but they're always entertaining -- and helpful.
The subtitle -- "Because Big Kids Have Even Bigger Problems" -- is particularly relevant in these times of the Great Recession, when more than a few adult children have moved back into their old bedrooms. Parent and Ende deal with this and other living arrangements in Chapter Three: "Living Arrangements for Young Adults."
The book is divided into eleven chapters, dealing with all aspects of raising adult children. The questions come in the form of "Dear Abby" style questions, with Gail Parent giving the first advice response, followed by Susan Ende's contribution. There are many books out there to teach you how to handle your children after they graduate from diapers, but none tells you how to proceed once they graduate from high school. As new patterns emerge in the lives of young adults, parents find that their grown children have bigger problems than they did just a few years ago.
How to Raise Your Adult Children is a manual for anxious moms and dads, because -- unlike microwave ovens, computers and cars -- kids don't come with instruction manuals. Whether confronting the question of setting a curfew for a college kid at home, or paying for a forty-year-old daughter's wedding, two "been there, done that" moms give advice with an edge on a variety of emotionally and financially perilous situations, including:
* Your kid needs money--your money
* Your kid moves back home and stays home
* You know your child should not marry their significant other
* Your big children keep dumping their little children on you
Whether you buy and read How to Raise Your Adult Children for the advice or just to enjoy the humor and wisdom, you'll enjoy this humorous take on a serious subject.
About the Authors: Gail Parent was born Gail Kostner in New York City on Aug. 12, 1940 (Happy Birthday, Gail!), the daughter of Theodore and Ruth Kostner. She married TV producer Lair Parent in 1962 and they divorced in 1979. She has two sons (they're not living at home!) and lives in Beverly Hills, CA. Susan Ende, M.F.T. lives in Pasadena, CA and has been a psychotherapist for 25 years. She has taught at Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA and Cal State University Los Angeles.
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BOOK REVIEW: Comedy Writer Gail Parent and Psychotherapist Susan Ende Give Advice to Parents in 'How to Raise Your Adult Children'
Reviewed By David M. Kinchen
Two-time Emmy Award-winning comedy writer Gail Parent might at first appear to be an unusual choice for an author of a book dispensing advice to parents of adult children, but Parent -- in combination with co-author psychotherapist Susan Ende -- really delivers the goods in their new book "How to Raise Your Adult Children" (Hudson Street Press, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA)/Aug 2010, 304 pages, $25.95).
Parent's writing and producing credits include Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, The Golden Girls, The Tracey Ullman Show, and The Carol Burnett Show, making her a superstar in the comedy writing business. She plays the comic in this book, with Ende playing the straight woman, but quite often their advice is basically the same -- except that Parent's is funnier. They don't always agree on their advice, but they're always entertaining -- and helpful.
The subtitle -- "Because Big Kids Have Even Bigger Problems" -- is particularly relevant in these times of the Great Recession, when more than a few adult children have moved back into their old bedrooms. Parent and Ende deal with this and other living arrangements in Chapter Three: "Living Arrangements for Young Adults."
The book is divided into eleven chapters, dealing with all aspects of raising adult children. The questions come in the form of "Dear Abby" style questions, with Gail Parent giving the first advice response, followed by Susan Ende's contribution. There are many books out there to teach you how to handle your children after they graduate from diapers, but none tells you how to proceed once they graduate from high school. As new patterns emerge in the lives of young adults, parents find that their grown children have bigger problems than they did just a few years ago.
How to Raise Your Adult Children is a manual for anxious moms and dads, because -- unlike microwave ovens, computers and cars -- kids don't come with instruction manuals. Whether confronting the question of setting a curfew for a college kid at home, or paying for a forty-year-old daughter's wedding, two "been there, done that" moms give advice with an edge on a variety of emotionally and financially perilous situations, including:
* Your kid needs money--your money
* Your kid moves back home and stays home
* You know your child should not marry their significant other
* Your big children keep dumping their little children on you
Whether you buy and read How to Raise Your Adult Children for the advice or just to enjoy the humor and wisdom, you'll enjoy this humorous take on a serious subject.
About the Authors: Gail Parent was born Gail Kostner in New York City on Aug. 12, 1940 (Happy Birthday, Gail!), the daughter of Theodore and Ruth Kostner. She married TV producer Lair Parent in 1962 and they divorced in 1979. She has two sons (they're not living at home!) and lives in Beverly Hills, CA. Susan Ende, M.F.T. lives in Pasadena, CA and has been a psychotherapist for 25 years. She has taught at Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA and Cal State University Los Angeles.
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