Becoming Parents: How to Strengthen Your Marriage as Your Family Grows - Hardcover

Markman, Howard; Markman, Howard J.; Stanley, Scott M.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0787947679 ISBN 13: 9780787947675

Publisher: Jossey-Bass, 1999

Synopsis

Moving into parenthood is typically a time of great joy and excitement, but it also brings fatigue, stress, and conflict. From the authors of the best-selling Fighting for Your Marriage and A Lasting Promise, this unique and innovative guide offers indispensable advice on how to protect and preserve your marriage and take care of yourselves as you become parents. Based on scientific research and containing real-life examples, Becoming Parents challenges you to seize this opportunity to really thrive in your relationship and in parenting together as a team.

"If you're having a baby, buy this book! It will give your baby the most important gift of all-parents who know how to keep their relationship happy, satisfying, and stable-the kind of relationship your baby can count on and learn from."
--Diane Sollee, director, Coalition for Marriage, Family and Couples Education

About this title

Review:

The minds of parents-to-be are occupied by many topics: labor and childbirth, infant care, nursery colors. Few anticipate the pressure parenthood can put on their marriage and how they'll feel uncertain, exhausted, overwhelmed, and downright afraid. Now, from the authors of Fighting for Your Marriage, comes a book designed specifically to help couples improve their relationships in preparation for parenthood. In Becoming Parents: How to Strengthen Your Marriage as Your Family Grows, Pamela L. Jordan, Scott M. Stanley, and Howard J. Markman offer essential advice to new parents on surviving this potentially trying time. It will help you communicate more clearly, better manage conflict, create lasting solutions to problems, identify underlying issues and expectations, and understand how morals and beliefs impact everyday communication.

Becoming Parents also delves into the larger issues of commitment, forgiveness, and intimacy, and explores the role of fun and friendship in happy relationships. It even tackles very touchy subjects: who gets up when the baby cries at night, the division of household tasks, and sex--all the stuff of everyday arguments. Through real-life examples and useful exercises in each chapter, the authors help you to better understand yourself and your partner. These are tools to use in your daily conversations, so you can build a happy, loving home for your baby. --Kelley Smith

From the Back Cover:

Chris and Traci stared at the test results in joyful terror. They found it hard to believe, but then the doctor confirmed it. In just about seven months Chris and Traci were going to become parents. They were elated one minute and full of anxiety the next as they began to contemplate vast changes and key decisions. What will we name the baby? What about breast feeding? Childcare? How are we going to afford this? Will we be good parents? Hey, what's going to happen to us?

Of all the questions expectant parents ask themselves, the most crucial is the one most often overlooked: "How are we going to make sure we don't cheat ourselves-or our child-of what made our relationship special in the first place?" After all, a strong and vibrant marriage is one of the best gifts you can give to your child.

There have been many books on improving your marriage and many others on parenting, but precious few on how to nurture the relationship between the two of you as you undergo the joys, surprises, and pressures of having a child. Becoming Parents offers a fresh approach to expectant and new parent education and is based on the latest research on what makes happy, healthy marriages. Whether you are becoming parents through birth, adoption, or foster parenting, this wonderfully practical guide will enable you to confront the challenges of parenthood while keeping the friendship, intimacy, and fun alive. You will discover how to:
· Share the joy and the work
· Survive the stress and fatigue
· Anticipate and prepare for lifestyle changes
· Identify and communicate your needs and expectations
· Expand your support network
· Balance work and family responsibilities

If you are planning a new arrival in your home, this is the book for you.

Becoming Parents is based on Pamela Jordan's innovative Becoming Parents Program (BPP) which includes the highly acclaimed Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP®), as presented in the best-selling book Fighting for Your Marriage.

Becoming a parent is one of the most profound experiences of a lifetime.
Becoming Parents can help make it an experience you can treasure-together.

Moving into parenthood is typically a time of great joy and excitement, but it also brings fatigue, stress, and conflict. From the authors of the best-selling Fighting for Your Marriage and A Lasting Promise, this unique and innovative guide offers indispensable advice on how to protect and preserve your marriage and take care of yourselves as you become parents. Based on scientific research and containing real-life examples, Becoming Parents challenges you to seize this opportunity to really thrive in your relationship and in parenting together as a team.

"If you're having a baby, buy this book! It will give your baby the most important gift of all-parents who know how to keep their relationship happy, satisfying, and stable-the kind of relationship your baby can count on and learn from."
-Diane Sollee, director, Coalition for Marriage, Family and Couples Education

"Marriages, like children, need constant care and nurturing if they're going to thrive and develop. This book offers all parents a clear, concise, and wonderfully insightful program that will go a long way toward making marriages-and families-stronger and healthier."
-Armin A. Brott, author of The Expectant Father: Facts, Tips, and Advice for Dads-to-Be and A Dad's Guide to the Toddler Years

"Anyone can figure out how to put a diaper on a baby-but how do you keep your marriage strong and stable as you become parents? Finally, a book that teaches survival skills to help couples who are on the road to parenthood stay connected and happy."
-Suzanne M. Lewis, Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator

"Becoming Parents zeroes in on the problems that can strain a marriage and offers practical techniques to help couples talk and solve problems. Research-based and clearly written, this book will increase the joys and decrease the stresses of parenthood."
-Penny Simkin, coauthor, Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Newborn: The Complete Guide

About this edition

• Publisher: Jossey-Bass
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0787947679
• ISBN 13: 9780787947675
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336