A Life of Care Giving – Becoming an Enlightened Caregiver

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From the acclaimed authors of Best Friends, Worst Enemies, here is the perfect companion volume: a practical, how-to guide for parents to help their children navigate the sometimes harsh terrain of social life at school, on the playground, and in the neighborhood.

Almost everyone agrees (and remembers): Childhood can be a traumatic time. Kids frequently face peer rejection, name-calling, bullying, after-school fights, esteem-crushing cliques, and malicious exclusion by the popular kids. And parents often feel powerless to console their children. Now help is here. Mom, They’re Teasing Me is a specific, hands-on guide for concerned parents who want to give their children the tools they need to cope with social cruelty. Through vividly written case studies and a reader-friendly question-and-answer format, this compelling book shows parents what a child may confront with other children, and then offers concrete advice on handling each situation.

Mom, They’re Teasing Me deals in-depth with specific aspects of social cruelty: the four major types of children at risk for social isolation and their unique problems; the ordinary pain of those children not at risk-but who, nevertheless, cause their parents concern; and bad class dynamics in the school and neighborhood. Through thoughtful discussion and insightful suggestions, parents will discover

• The difference between real risk and normal social pain
• The appropriate time to intervene-and when to step back
• Tips on how to mediate between children-without appearing meddlesome
• Essential advice for parents who worry too much
• The importance of teaching and encouraging leadership
• The redemptive power of friendship

Mom, They’re Teasing Me answers key questions on the many manifestations of social cruelty, offers compelling descriptions of prime “teasing? scenarios, and illustrates how to counter them. It is an indispensable book for every involved parent who wants to make their child’s formative years rich and rewarding.

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The notion that parents cherish all their children equally — or at least say they do — is so entrenched in our culture that colleagues warned Karl Pillemer, a gerontologist at Cornell University embarking on the first of many studies of family favoritism, that his research would prove futile. No mother, they insisted, would admit to caring more for one son or daughter than another.

So much for that. His team’s interviewers, talking to mothers ages 65 to 75 in the Boston area about their adult offspring, found that most were perfectly willing to name favorites. “Most mothers have very distinct preferences,” Dr. Pillemer said. “There’s one to whom they feel most emotionally close . . .

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The day was cold and we were walking at a fast clip. “Jesse, I need to talk to you about Mom.? Jesse took another step, then suddenly stopped and spun around to face me. I was at least six inches taller, but amazingly, in that instant, it seemed as if we were standing there eye to eye. His gaze was hard and uncompromising. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore! She doesn’t have Old Timers!? I blinked at the pronunciation. Old Timers? Was he serious? Yes, a second look at that gritted, desperate expression told me my stepfather was dead serious. Jesse had tricked his mind into attaching this folksy, homespun name to the disease so it wouldn’t sound quite so sinister.

This book provides insight into the ways in which families can deal with this extremely difficult disease. A tender and revealing account of how a son can grapple with the challenges of a mother with Alzheimers, not all happy times but then life is not that way.

If you’re at or near this situation this is a must read!

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A memoir of a daughter, her parents and the Beast named – Alzheimer’s: A story of Life, Love and Death, Deborah Ann Tornillo chronicles the time spent taking care of her mother and father, both of whom were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in February 2006.

“I didn’t know when I would tell this story, I just knew I would,” Tornillo writes. “Both my mother and father had Alzheimer’s; my Mom was further along in the disease process than my Dad. It was an incredible journey spending the last year and a half of their life with them, slowly watching the disease take its toll.”

36 Days Apart recounts this painful, enlightening journey, and Tornillo writes candidly about the struggles and fears she faced as her parents’ caregiver. When the diagnosis came in 2006, Tornillo bravely faced the reality that she would need to take care of them full-time. At first, this entailed monthly flights back and forth to her home state, but it quickly became apparent that the Alzheimer’s was progressing in both parents much more quickly than first anticipated.

As their disease progressed, Tornillo was faced with the difficult task of learning how to be a parent to her own parents. Through the year and a half of caring for them she extensively researched Alzheimer’s in order to provide the best care possible, all the while knowing that the disease would eventually win in the end. She found herself saying goodbye to her father first, but little did she know that her mother would pass away just 36 days later.

36 Days Apart gives an honest, unflinching look at the realities of caring for and losing loved ones to Alzheimer’s. Tornillo gives the reader an inside look into the day-to-day life she faced during her heartbreaking, difficult time. “The two most important things I learned from my parents as we traveled this road together was how to stay strong in faith and never lose compassion for others or myself,” she writes. “I was blessed to have learned from them their wisdom of life and death. I have faith that as you read my parent’s story you will gain the strength and wisdom needed to guide you.”

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In this timely survival guide, positive mom Karol Ladd offers practical steps to help mothers identify hidden anger in their own lives and in the lives of each member of their family. When tempers flare they need to know how to respond quickly to defuse the situation and to, instead, create a more loving atmosphere where anger has no place. The discussion focuses on three important steps:

• Recognize and Deal with Your Anger
• Learn How to Respond to Their Anger
• Create an Enviornment Where Love Abounds

With anger being a major issue in every home, Karol’s positive plan offers vital solutions that will not only deactivate anger but strengthen the bonds of love.

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