For Lesbian Parents: Your Guide to Helping Your Family Grow Up Happy, Healthy, and Proud [Paperback]

Suzanne M. Johnson (Author), Elizabeth O'Connor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 23, 2001

Raising a child is overwhelming, thrilling, exhausting, terrifying, and joyous - and all at the same time. In addition to the adjustments that any new parents must make, lesbian mothers face numerous special questions and concerns. From 'coming out' to your child to coping with the pressures of trying to be a lesbian super-mom, this wise and reassuring book offers information and support for women forging a new path in what it means to be a family. The authors are uniquely qualified for the task as expert developmental psychologists who are also co-parenting two young daughters. With clarity and wit, they offer helpful advice on what kids need to know, and at what age; how to help them respond to questions and teasing from peers; ways to foster sensitivity in relatives, teachers, and others; how to talk to teens about their own developing sexuality; how parenting affects couple relationships; and much more. Chapters are packed with the insights and experience of lesbians who have come to be parents in a variety of ways. Also included are listings of useful web-sites, publications, and other resources.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Authors Suzanne M. Johnson and Elizabeth O'Connor are experts on the challenges facing lesbian families: both developmental psychologists, they are coparenting two daughters. Their book For Lesbian Parents: Your Guide to Helping Your Family Grow Up Happy, Healthy and Proud offers help on explaining lesbianism to children and explores what lesbian parents can do to help children explain their family situation to their peers. Johnson and O'Connor also explore the complexity of dealing with the attitudes of the outside world, including relatives, schools, and doctors or mental health specialists. There aren't many books addressing the needs of the ongoing lesbian baby boom, and the enthusiastic blurb from Lesl‚a Newman, author of the acclaimed Heather Has Two Mommies, should help focus well-deserved attention to this one.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Partners/psychologists/lesbians/mothers, Johnson and O'Connor are thoughtful and thorough in guiding lesbians through the life-changing venture of parenthood and offering solid advice as to exactly what can be said and done to lighten the mother load. "Different" does not mean "worse," they say, though they are very aware of all the problems that gay mothers must face. Being out is one of the most important steps to honest motherhood, though if some lesbians are still in the closet, there are ways to deal with children's questions. Known/unknown do-nors, adoptions, artificial insemination, interracial lesbian families, divorce, coming out, break-ups of lesbian unions, and lesbian stepfamilies are all covered. Including plentiful resources (e.g., books, web sites, and agencies), this frank, informed book is recommended for parenting as well as gay studies collections.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: Guilford Press; 1 edition (March 23, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572306637
• ISBN-13: 978-1572306639
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #955,219 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hooray!, July 4, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: For Lesbian Parents: Your Guide to Helping Your Family Grow Up Happy, Healthy, and Proud (Paperback)

Having finished my copy of For Lesbian Parents, I am now logging on to buy one for everyone I know! This accessible book will become the new "bible" of lesbian parenting....it has everything you ever needed to know! I especially liked the interviews with all kinds of lesbian moms that were woven into the chapters, and the stories that the authors share about their own families are warm, personal and amusing! The authors are inclusive and thorough - couples and families, schools, churches, break ups, sexuality, homophobia and more! This gentle guide takes us through the difficult process of parenting - and the sometimes even more difficult process of lesbian parenting - with reassurance and celebration! Put this on the gift list of everyone you know!

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What we've been waiting for!, June 22, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: For Lesbian Parents: Your Guide to Helping Your Family Grow Up Happy, Healthy, and Proud (Paperback)

For Lesbian Parents offers a long-awaited, intelligent and insightful guide to two-mom families! The book is accessible, informative, user-friendly, and it's format covers everything from answering children's questions to religious issues to artificial insemination options! The authors, both Ph.D's in Developmental Psychology offer a "what to expect when you're expecting" format, with developmental guidelines, boxed facts, and interweave beautifully their own personal experiences as lesbian moms. Their research and their gentle humor are both reassuring, as both conclude that not only are children in lesbian families doing just fine - in some ways, they are especially blessed! This book is a must have for anyone who is considering becoming a lesbian family, or for anyone who knows or loves a lesbian family!

14 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars great in theory, but reality's a little different, March 19, 2002

By 

jamie williams (austin, texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: For Lesbian Parents: Your Guide to Helping Your Family Grow Up Happy, Healthy, and Proud (Paperback)

while i think a book like this is definitely needed, this one is not it. i want a book that provides me with examples, anecdotes, exercises, etc. i also don't want a book that advocates the boy scouts as a good resource - the homophobia of the boyscouts is something i'll avoid.

nope, if you want a great glbt parenting book (and i've read them all), get the queer parent's primer, by stephanie brill