Customer Reviews

Give Them Wings

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book helped me to understand the thoughts and emotions of my son, a Senior in High School better. Also, it put to rest some of my fears and concerns of him going off to college. Knowing what to expect and not to expect is very helpful.

Carol Kuykendall provides good insights as she warmly recounts her experience in supporting her teenagers transition through high school and into college. Many suggestions are based on how God loves us, which of course is a great model for how we can love our teenagers. (Many of us act like we are teenagers in responding to God!) "Give Them Wings" has been very helpful for us to think through the changes, understand how our teenagers think and feel, how we might be feeling, and to adjust accordingly. Nicely written. Not a detailed manual but it isn't meant to serve that purpose (I ordered another book for that)

Parenting a teenager is difficult. The relationship is easily strained. You want them to fly high and strong when they leave the nest. Carol gives many helpful suggestions through examples of her own experiences. A must read for parents of children at any age.

Don't wait until you're delivering your first child to college all the way across the country before reading this one; Start when they're beginning High School - for their sake and yours! I started to read this when we were taking our son to play college football - I cried all the way there....and back. They weren't tears of joy and excitement for my son and what he would accomplish; it was more that I felt I had failed him.......we weren't prepared! This book will teach you how to prepare your child to leave the nest with some wonderful Biblical principles and it will teach you how to let go too.....a little at a time!

I read this book only about a month before my son left for college across the country. I was feeling anxious, melancholic and woefully unprepared. It's not that I didn't want my son to be wildly successful in his adult life, but I was struggling to reconcile my hopes and dreams for him versus my protective and cling-y motherly nature knowing I would miss him terribly. This book was exactly what I needed. It not only empathized with what I was feeling but helped me to think differently about this season of life. There is life after the children leave, and here are thoughts and perspectives (much of it Biblical) to think about during this sensitive time. Bottom line: This book was a great comfort to me. I recommend this book for anyone who has teenagers...the earlier you read it the more helpful it is. The book also addresses a number of life skills that parents may not (wish to) think about until the teens are practically out of the house (e.g. managing money, facing peer pressure to experiment with drugs and pre-maritzl sex, self-discipline in study habits, personal living habits living in a dorm, etc.) In the back of my mind, I thought I had so much time to teach my son about all these. But the time went by so fast and all of a sudden he was leaving for college. This book helps you to prep your teens early for this big step of leaving home for college, military service, getting married or just moving out of the parent's home.

I was given this book as a gift during the summer before my first child went to college. My taste in literature definitely runs more to fiction than what I perceived as "self help". I also thought a book written in 1994 might not be relevant to my current situation. It sat on my bookshelf for several months, during the fall with my then freshman away at school. The transition was so difficult for me, I was truly unprepared for all the emotional turmoil. I found myself agitated most of the time worrying about my child's choices, safety, health and just about anything else I could worry about. As I began to read this book, I began to feel better. While there is no " aha!" moment that will change your life, what you will gain is a better understanding of the issues surrounding the empty nest, coping skills to adapt to it and great parenting advice. It flows very nicely and is like a warm glass of cocoa before bed. You will feel soothed, you will feel calmed and all those things that you "knew" with your head, but not with your heart will become a little more clear. The Biblical references are spot on and truly helpful. I think this is a great book for ANYONE.

This Book on learning how to parent differently once your child goes off to college makes a great senior mom book study. I am on my second year of facilitating two such studies and the participants have embraced the wisdome and sage advise offered by the author.

This book is packed with practical advice for parents whose children will soon be leaving the nest or have recently left. Without claiming to have all the answers, Carol sprinkles real-life examples from her family throughout the book, giving some excellent insights as to how she implemented her own advice in her family.

Some parents may have a hard time letting their young adult children grow up. This book shows how the gradual shift from a child's dependence to independence can take place with a minimum of conflict when parents step back and let their young people take responsibility for their actions and decisions, while still being supportive and loving.

Carol shows how it is not necessarily "rebellion" when a young person does things differently from the way his parents do, but these actions are probably just signs of that young person's trying to become more independent. Do we really expect our children to be duplicate copies of ourselves? No; we want them to grow up and be independent. Carol brings out the fact that young people need to be free to try their own styles, not be crammed into a mold.

Having four children ages 17-21, my husband and I found this book to be an excellent resource. We highly recommend it!