Becoming a Grandmother: A Life Transition - Hardcover

Kitzinger, Sheila

3.05

19 ratings by Goodreads

9780684196190: Becoming a Grandmother: A Life Transition

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0684196190 ISBN 13: 9780684196190

Publisher: Scribner, 1996

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Previous books on grandmothering have been either scholarly studies or jokey books intended to humor grannies along. Now comes a book that offers grandmothers what they really want - an accessible guide through a major life passage, based on extensive research among grandmothers in the United States, Britain, Australia, and many other countries.
In twelve accessible but intelligent chapters we learn about: Images of the Grandmother, Our Own Grandmothers, Grandmothers in Traditional Cultures and in Myths, The Eager-to-Be Grandmother, The Reluctant Grandmother, Birth, Granny Trouble, Feeling Close - Mothers, Daughters and Daughters-in-Law, A Learning Experience, and Grandmother Skills.
For many women, becoming a grandmother is a bigger milestone than reaching menopause, and often, these two events occur at the same time, bringing with them many changes. Sheila Kitzinger addresses her subject with great sensitivity and honesty, recognizing that accompanying the intense pleasure of becoming a grandmother are deep anxieties as well.
Becoming a Grandmother explores the ways in which grandmothers can find satisfaction in their new roles, achieve a better understanding of family tensions, communicate more effectively with their daughters and daughters-in-law, provide emotional support, and, most importantly, enjoy their grandchildren.

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Review:

What is it like to become a grandmother? In every culture, a woman's self-identity changes when her daughter or daughter-in-law births a child. In Becoming a Grandmother, Sheila Kitzinger, well-known pregnancy, birth, and motherhood expert and author of the bestselling The Complete Book of Pregnancy and Childbirth, turns her pen and insights to the mother-grandmother life transition.

What has grandmotherhood traditionally been like in cultures around the world? What does it feel like to be a grandmother in youth-oriented Western society? To answer these and other questions, Kitzinger turns to folklore, literature, anthropology, her personal experiences, and the experiences of many other grandmothers. She is at her strongest when she profiles grandmothers in different cultures and when she discusses the different ways--from embrace to denial--that new grandmothers react to their new identity. Kitzinger's specific advice for enhancing relationships with daughters, daughters-in-law (this book is largely centered on the female experience), and grandchildren may not ring true for every reader, but her intimate tone certainly will. Parenting and mothering literature has neglected the role and identity of the grandmother for too long; Becoming a Grandmother is a welcome addition to a small canon.

About the Author:

Sheila Kitzinger is the world's best-known writer on childbirth from a woman's point of view. She is the author of 23 books, which are published in 20 languages. They include The New Pregnancy and Childbirth, Breastfeeding and, most recently, Rediscovering Birth. Sheila is a social anthropologist of birth and seeks to help women make their own informed choices about pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding, and motherhood.

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