A survey of the literature suggests that relatively little has been written about parenthood in the context of the experience over a period of one's lifetime. In the book, I describe what parenthood requires from the moment of conception and beyond, some 50-60 years later in a person's life, to when he/she becomes a grandparent and possibly even a great grandparent. There is a large education strand in the book which describes the role of teachers and other educators who in concert with parents are responsible for the physical and cognitive development of our children. The importance of parents as baby's first teacher and the role that parents play in insuring that their children are ready to enter kindergarten is emphasized. Each chapter in the book dwells on a particular period in the lives of children and their parents, beginning with conception and continuing until the child reaches adulthood. A comprehensive discussion of the role that parents and teachers play in each phase of child development is studied. The latter chapters are mainly dedicated to parents as they approach their twilight years but still may play an important role, in the family, as parents and grandparents. In addition they may find themselves in the role of still caring for their adult children while simultaneously caring for their own elderly parents. The final chapters provide a window into what it feels like to get old both from a physical and cognitive perspective and the implications relative to elder care needs. WHERE WAS THIS BOOK when I was blessed with six children who arrived without an Instruction Manual. It surely would have helped me to navigate more confidently the unchartered waters of Parenting. An amazing, comprehensive guidebook! Claire St. Pierre Simple, entertaining and yet has the power to inspire and transform attitudes and behavior. From the outset, readers are encouraged to apply ideas and experiences directly to their own lives and the lives of their children.

This is Volume IV of twenty-one in a series on the Sociology of Gender and the Family. Originally published in 1949, this is a development of the author's previous work that recommended action in the areas of 'social psychiatry' or 'individual adjustments'. The focus of the present volume is the study of the needed changes on the societal and cultural level. Individual personality adjustments are studied not as the only thing we can do about it, but as a source of guidance as to what social action is needed.

Jessica Valenti explores modern motherhood and the choice to have children.

This book offers an original interpretation of the history of falling fertilities in Britain between 1860 and 1940. It integrates the approaches of the social sciences and of demographic, feminist, and labour history with intellectual, social, and political history. It exposes the conceptual and statistical inadequacies of the orthodox picture of a national, unitary class-differential fertility decline, and presents an entirely new analysis of the famous 1911 fertility census of England and Wales. Surprising and important findings emerge concerning the principal methods of birth control: births were spaced from early on in marriage; and sexual abstinence by married couples was a far more significant practice than previously imagined. The author presents a new general approach to the study of fertility change, raising central issues concerning the relationship between history and social science.