Becoming a Grandmother: A Life Transition [Hardcover]

Sheila Kitzinger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 9, 1996

In this guide, Kitzinger brings her insights to bear on what it feels like to be a grandmother, and looks at the whole panoply of issues surrounding the institution of grandmotherhood. These include: looking at the grandmother role through a range of cultures; grandmothers as represented in fiction and history; family values in the 1990s; the effect of a new generation on existing family relations, specifically the mother-daughter relationship and grandmother-father relationships; and young grandmothers. She also offers a way of looking at the transition of becoming a grandmother and how it feels to the person herself.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com 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. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Publishers Weekly

A social anthropologist who has written on childbirth (The Complete Book of Pregnancy and Childbirth), Kitzinger explores here the experience of grandmotherhood both personally and in an historical overview based on detailed research. From questionnaires returned by mothers and grandmothers in the U.S., Britain and Australia, she concludes that "Knowing how to be a grandmother does not come instinctively." Contrasting grandmothers who in traditional cultures were icons with many of today's grandmothers, who often don't view the role as a pinnacle of achievement, Kitzinger covers a broad range of issues that arise once a grandchild is born and family relationships shift and change. With understated advisories, she also addresses the many ways "grandmother skills" can be acquired and enjoyed.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Scribner (September 9, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684196190
• ISBN-13: 978-0684196190
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,083,727 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars the transition rather than "how to", December 14, 2000

By 

[e-mail] - See all my reviews

This review is from: Becoming a Grandmother: A Life Transition (Paperback)

I gave this book to my mother when I found out I was pregnant. I admit to reading most of it before handing it on. I now wish I'd bought two copies -- one for my mother-in-law. It is a great account of all the doubts and feelings that may occur when a mother finds out her offspring is going to become a parent. The author mainly deals with a mother-daughter relationship, rather than a mother-son relationship. The author is British, and I related well to the content. It was reassuring to know that my mother was probably experiencing doubts and having to address issues to do with her growing older. I enjoyed the idea that a new bond is created between mother and daughter because they share childbirth in common. My mum felt that it was a lot less threatening to receive this as a gift, than to be given a How to Grandparent book which is really a slap in the face to say 'You don't know what to do!'. A good narrative which should be taken in the light in which it was written -- not a how-to book, but a food-for-thought book which might reassure that its okay to have doubts about impending grandparent-hood.

18 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Left me feeling unsure about grandma-hood, September 22, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Becoming a Grandmother: A Life Transition (Paperback)

I am some years away from becoming a grandmother. I bought and read this book for my church library. I was disappointed in it. Instead of good advice on how to be a grandma, especially when living at a distance from grandkids, this book seemed to be written for those who dreaded becoming a grandma. GEEZ. Let's buck up ladies and realize that grandmotherhood is a BLESSING rather than some kind of condemnation of age! We EARN the right to be elders, to be wise! When will American women welcome each section of their lives as they pass through it? You only go this way but once and there are plenty of dead women who would have given everything to live long enough to even see grandchildren. This book left little to look forward to. In her effort to try to convince "reluctant" grandmothers that they should look forward to this experience she seemed to be saying that if you WERE looking forward to it, something is wrong with you. I had great relationships with both my grandmothers. They enriched my life tremendously and were another voice of reason and ears to listen as I was growing up. Kitzinger's book left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Call me disappointed.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars classic book, August 25, 2009

By 

clay artist (Berwick, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Becoming a Grandmother: A Life Transition (Paperback)

This is a classic book full of thoughtful reflection. You can't beat it for the price.