Making Adult Stepfamilies Work - by Jean Lipman-Blumen & Grace Gabe (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

If you are among the growing number of families in which adults with grown children have remarried later in life, you are probably familiar with the conflicts and complicated emotional dynamics that can result. Parents expect that remarrying will be easier because the children are grown up. But the reality is that these remarriages can cause painful struggles between parents and their adult children. Based on in-depth research by a psychiatrist and a sociologist, Step Wars trains a revealing lens on the sources of these conflicts and teaches the skills required to manage them. Topics include:

* Your Children and Mine: Can They Ever Become Ours?
* What Will Happen to the "Family Home"?
* Who Should Inherit My Property? Managing Financial Conflict Between Generations
* Health and Illness: Thank Heaven the Caretaker Is on Duty
* The Grandchildren: Pawns or Bridges?

Written for both the couple getting married as well as their adult children, Step Wars is a road map for happily surviving remarriage later in life.

From the Back Cover

"Every parent in a blended family can use some help in navigating this tricky emotional terrain. Grace Gabe and Jean Lipman-Blumen are those trustworthy guides anyone needs to make a step-family work; Step Wars is an essential guide, a pragmatic tool, and an invaluable resource." -Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence

"Step Wars helps people navigate the changes and choices what come with a new family so that everyone can benefit!" -Spencer Johnson, author of Who Moved My Cheese: An A-mazing Way to Deal With Change

About the Author

Grace Gabe, M.D., a graduate of Harvard and Boston University, practiced psychiatry and treated many adult stepfamilies in the Washington, D.C., area for three decades. She has published her research in academic journals as well as popular magazines such as Psychology Today.
Jean Lipman-Blumen, Ph.D., is a graduate of Wellesley College and the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. She is the author of more than sixty-five articles in academic journals and has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. Her earlier book, The Connective Edge, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.