Helping Your Kids Cope with Divorce the Sandcastles Way by M. Gary Neuman, Patricia Romanowski, Patricia Romanowski (With), Judith S. Wallerstein, Sandra Blakeslee

Synopsis

Divorce is painful and confusing. Perhaps now more than ever, you want to give your child all the love, support, and guidance he or she needs, but everything seems harder and more complicated. Helping Your Kids Cope with Divorce the Sandcastles Way can help. Based on Gary Neuman's phenomenally successful Sandcastles program, which has helped more than fifty thousand children cope with divorce, this warm, empathetic guide shows you:


  How to build a co-parenting relationship--even when you think you can't

  When you or your child should see a therapist

   Age-appropriate scripts for addressing sensitive issues

  What to do when a parent moves away

  How to stop fighting with your ex-spouse

  How to navigate the emotional turmoil of custody and visitation

  How to help your child deal with change

  How to cope with kids' common fears about separation

  How to introduce significant others into the family and help your child cope with a new stepfamily

More than a hundred pieces of artwork from children of divorce will help you appreciate how kids perceive the experience. Dozens of special activities and fun exercises will help you communicate and get closer to your child. This guide shows you that divorce need not be an inevitable blot on children's lives, but an opportunity for them to grow and strengthen the bonds with their parents.

Library Journal

More than 20,000 children have taken part in the SandcastlesTM program, a method through which children of divorcing parents learn to cope with the breakup by meeting with each other and trained counselors. This program, completed in one 3.5-hour session, is available in Miami, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, and dozens of other cities. Neuman, a couselor, rabbi, and creator of the SandcastlesTM program, encourages children to speak, draw, and write to help them express their feelings and realize that they are not alone, weird, or at fault. Here he writes for parents who may not have access to the sessions and want to help their children through the experience of divorce. This is a thorough guide, using the art, letters, prose, and expressions from children in SandcastlesTM programs across the country. Sidebars, quotations, "dos and don'ts," and surveys make it easy to read. Highly recommended for all parenting shelves.--Linda Beck, Indian Valley P.L., Telford, PA

Biography

M. Gary Neuman is a licensed mental-health counselor, a Florida Supreme Court-certified mediator,  a rabbi, and the creator of the nationally recognized Sandcastles program for children of divorce. His work has been featured on National Public Radio, Dateline, the Today show, Good Morning America, and elsewhere. He lives with his wife and five children in Miami Beach, Florida. Patricia Romanowski is the coauthor of sixteen books. She lives on Long Island with her husband, author Philip Bashe, and their son, Justin.