What About the Kids? Raising Your Children Before, During, and After Divorce

Abstract

Reviews the book "What About the Kids? Raising Your Children Before, During, and After Divorce," by Judith S. Wallerstein and Sandra Blakeslee (2003). It addresses parents specifically. This book, unique in its perspective, focuses on the psychological impact of divorce on children and adolescents. It offers to parents invaluable, practical information and specific recommendations. The authors note that divorcing or divorced parents have greater responsibilities for raising their children, while they have far less control individually. Further, one parent is never completely free from the other-a point that cannot be overemphasized to spouses who are contemplating divorce. The book explores specific responses and concerns of children at different ages. Finally, the authors also explore different kinds of custody and note there can be physical custody (that is, where a child lives), as distinct from legal custody (that is, who is responsible for decisions in a child's life). Poignantly, both the authors emphasize that parents can fail at divorce just as they have failed at marriage. This book, based on wealth of clinical material, is a welcome contribution to offer parents who are considering or already in the process of divorce. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)