The groundbreaking handbook that helps parents guide their children through divorce and co-parenting -- including the introduction of step-parents -- from a New York Times bestselling author and child psychologist. This is the definitive work from the renowned child psychologist Judith Wallerstein on a subject that concerns millions of American moms and dads: How can you protect your children during and after divorce? Divorce is not a single event but a lifelong trajectory of changed circumstances that demand a different kind of parenting than we have ever known. In What About the Kids? Wallerstein draws on thirty years of in-depth interviews with children of divorce and their parents to show how to create a new family with compassion and wisdom. It covers issues that arise at the time of divorce as well as suggestions for talking to your children months and years after the event. Eminent psychologist Judith S. Wallerstein shares her unique insight and advice in What About the Kids? -- the first comprehensive guide to easing the impact of divorce on your children -- including: The best and worst ages for children to experience their parents' divorce Right and wrong ways to explain divorce to your children Choosing a custody arrangement that's best for your child How to involve the grandparents -- a major resource? Getting the children on your side when you form new relationships The positive effects of divorce on children (believe it or not) How divorce can actually make you a better parent Raising children who grow up able to form lasting relationships

The first book to address the subject of divorce specifically from a child's point of view, this is the result of two years' work by twenty school children between the ages of eleven and fourteen in an open school in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Fourteen of the children had experienced their parents' divorces; the other six worried constantly that their parents might separate. Realizing that all twenty of them had strong feelings on the subject which they had never been encouraged to express, their classroom teacher, Eric Rofes, began a series of discussion groups and assigned supplementary reading. As the project grew, the children interviewed counselors, judges, other children and members of the clergy. In the book that ultimately emerged, they offer advice on everything from how to avoid taking sides to how to deal with parents' new relationships, stepparents and gay parents. They describe the legal process of divorce in language a child can understand and cover such subjects as handling a new living situation, holidays (always difficult), visiting arrangements and how to get support from friends, relatives or counselors.