Full of research-based tips and real-world wisdom, this book is a guide for mothers on how to thrive as they transition to their empty nest years. Thirty million mothers between 40 and 60 years old are about to face childless households for the first time in decades. For some women, it is a lonely and confusing time; but for the vast majority, it's a journey of joy and discovery. Through intensive and wide-ranging original research, author Carin Rubenstein reveals how and why some mothers thrive and others do not. She breaks the post-motherhood launch down into three stages--grief, relief, and joy. If a woman makes it through to the final stage, friendships blossom, work thrives, and she develops a renewed sense of confidence and well-being. While in many instances, increased time together hastens the end of a struggling marriage, most women discover their relationships improve when children leave. Beyond the Mommy Years offers fascinating research, helpful advice, and amusing anecdotes to the millions facing this uncertain but potentially enriching stage of life. "An encouraging counterarguement to the idea that an empty nest leads to an empty life." -- Library Journal "Carin Rubenstein, PhD., nails it: Any woman worried about her post-car pool life should read this book." -- Sally Koslow, mother of two sons in their twenties, and author of Little Pink Slips "Beyond the Mommy Years bridges the knowledge void felt by so many moms after their children leave for college...A thoughtful discussion of the positive changes that lie ahead for mothers after our children are launched. While parenting never ends, this book provides moms with the tools to live a rich and full life." -- Linda Perlman Gordon & Susan Morris Shaffer, co-authors of Mom, Can I Move Back in with You?

With his trademark, child-like art, Todd Parr celebrates mothers, whether they drive a minivan or a motorcycle or work in a big building or at home. Full color.

“And they lived mommy ever after,” the mommy whispered to her baby. “Because we are not always going to feel happy, but I am always going to be your mommy.” A daughter grows from a tiny infant to a young girl, and the years bring all the natural changes and accompanying emotions. Some emotions are big and scary. But the one constant in the little girl’s life is her mother and her magical stories. These stories stories teach her about her uniqueness, about her kindness, and about her power to face the inevitable darkness in life. But when she’s on her own, away from her mother, can she share her light? It’s never too early to teach children how to recognize and accept emotions like fear, sadness, and loneliness. Through gorgeous illustrations of the real and fantasy worlds in which children always coexist, Mommy Ever After explores the difficult idea that we won’t always be happy, but we can always be brave and we can always be kind.

Rediscover your own identity after your kids leave home with this top-rated empty nest book for moms! This empowering and insightful book is packed with practical advice, inspiring anecdotes, and valuable strategies to help you navigate the transition into empty nesting and discover a vibrant new identity. Written by an experienced author who has been through the journey herself, this book is your trusted companion as you embark on this transformative phase. Whether you're feeling lost, overwhelmed, or uncertain about what lies ahead, From Mom to Me Again offers a roadmap to reclaiming your independence, rediscovering your passions, and embracing the joy and opportunities that come with an empty nest. Inside, you'll find: Practical tips for adjusting to life without children at home, creating a fulfilling routine, and establishing new goals. Inspiring stories from real women who have successfully reinvented themselves after their children have flown the nest. Expert advice on self-care, cultivating new friendships, and exploring new hobbies or career paths. Strategies for nurturing your relationships with your grown children and maintaining a strong bond while giving them space to grow. Guidance on navigating the emotional ups and downs of this transition and finding a renewed sense of purpose. Whether you're a newly empty-nester or have been on this journey for some time, From Mom to Me Again is your go-to resource for embracing change, rediscovering yourself, and living life to the fullest. With its wealth of wisdom, actionable steps, and uplifting guidance, this book is a must-read for every woman ready to embark on a new chapter of her life. Also makes a great gift for empty nesters!

Children explore how their mothers have careers but also have the job of taking care of them.

"... Perhaps never before has type 1 diabetes been presented to children as endearingly and accessibly as by Kim Baillieul in the recently-published Mommy Beeps." -Maria Muccioli, PhD - writer for www.diabetesdaily.com Where does insulin go? In the butter compartment of the fridge, of course. Mommy Beeps is a story for children who have a parent, sibling, teacher, or other loved one who has diabetes. Explore the day in the life of a type 1 diabetic and her child as they go on adventures - dealing with high and low sugars, waiting on hold for lab results, and visiting the endocrinologist. Check out the book "highly recommended" by DiabetesDaily.com - with detailed illustrations of diabetic supplies & machines that beep (whether a meter or pump), Mommy Beeps provides opportunities to discuss the varying ways diabetes can be managed and how it impacts those around them. This book is sure to be an essential for any child who is close with anyone who has type 1 diabetes (or type 2!) - but is not diabetic themselves. Author Kim Baillieul and Illustrator Elisena Bonadio make their debut with Mommy Beeps, a passion project - independently published through their label Bonus Spoon Books, which aims to help people with chronic illnesses educate and advocate the little ones in their lives.

A book behaving badly! From award-winning Richard Byrne, author of This Book Just Ate My Dog (shortlisted for the Children's Book Award) comes another wonderfully inventive book starring Ben and Bella. It's a funny and original high-concept picture book where the book itself interferes with what happens on the page. Ben has a remote-controlled fire engine but when he presses the buttons on the remote the engine doesn't turn or spin or sound its siren. While Ben and Bella scratch their heads over this, strange things are happening to Bella's dog. It's only when Ben tries the VOICE button that Bella's dog is able to speak, warning them that 'This Book is Out of Control!' Readers get the chance to press the buttons and witness the hilarious slapstick results every time the page is turned. It's an interactive experience for the reader who ultimately has to help in restoring normality.

Born out of her popular website Beyond Mom, Randi’s book is a guide for mothers looking to jump-start their business ideas by finding connection from within. The 1.2 million women in America each year who choose not to return to traditional work after having children have found themselves filled with an unexpected creative energy, but lack the knowledge and network to tap it. With the support of the Beyond Mom community behind you, Randi provides the guidance and the tools women need to find their strength, body, and mind, thus laying the integral foundation to bring entrepreneurial ideas to fruition. Her distinct approach is as practically accessible as it is holistic—a former yoga teacher who also possesses a decade of experience as an acting CEO, she knows that personal well-being is critically connected to any thriving business venture. Because the first step to personal wellness and idea growth begins with you. In addition, each chapter features an interview from the Beyond Mom network of celebrity moms, successful businesswomen, and clients, like bestselling author and coach Alexandra Jamieson, renowned psychotherapist Terri Cole, IntenSati founder Patricia Moreno, and author/anthropologist Wednesday Martin, just to name a few. Honest, smart, and relatable, Randi provides wisdom and encouragement to build entrepreneurs (who are also moms) from deep within!

With motherhood comes one of the toughest decisions of a woman’s life: Stay at home or pursue a career? The dilemma not only divides mothers into hostile, defensive camps but pits individual mothers against themselves. Leslie Morgan Steiner has been there. As an executive at The Washington Post, a writer, and mother of three, she has lived and breathed every side of the “mommy wars.” Rather than just watch the battles rage, Steiner decided to do something about it. She commissioned twenty-six outspoken mothers to write about their lives, their families, and the choices that have worked for them. The result is a frank, surprising, and utterly refreshing look at American motherhood. Ranging in age from twenty-five to seventy-two and scattered across the country from New Hampshire to California, these mothers reflect the full spectrum of lifestyle choices. Women who have been home with the kids from day one, moms who shuttle from full-time office jobs to part-time at-home work, hard-driving executives who put in seventy-hour-plus weeks: they all get a turn. The one thing these women have in common, aside from having kids, is that they’re all terrific writers. Pulitzer Prize winner Jane Smiley vividly recounts how her generation stormed the American workplace–only to take refuge at home when the workplace drove them out. Lizzie McGuire creator Terri Minsky describes what it felt like to hear her kids scream “I hope you never come back!” when she flew to L.A. to launch the show that made her career. Susan Cheever, novelist, biographer, and Newsday columnist, reports on the furious battles between the stroller pushers and the briefcase bearers on the streets of Manhattan. Lois R. Shea traded the journalistic fast track for a house in the country where she could raise her daughter in peace. Ann Misiaszek Sarnoff, chief operating officer of the Women’s National Basketball Association, argues fiercely that you can combine ambition and motherhood–and have a blast in the process. Candid, engaging, by turns unflinchingly honest and painfully funny, the essays collected here offer an astonishingly intimate portrait of the state of motherhood today. Mommy Wars is a book by and for and about the real experts on motherhood and hard work: the women at home, in the office, on the job every day of their lives. Including these essays: “Neither Here nor There” by Sandy Hingston “The Mother Load” by Terri Minsky “Sharks and Jets” by Page Evans “Baby Battle” by Susan Cheever “Guilty” by Dawn Drzal “The Donna Reed Syndrome” by Lonnae O’Neal Parker “Mother Superior” by Catherine Clifford “Good Enough” by Beth Brophy “Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn” by Lois R. Shea “What Goes Unsaid” by Sydney Trent “I Hate Everybody” by Leslie Lehr “Before; After” by Molly Jong-Fast “I Do Know How She Does It” by Ann Misiaszek Sarnoff “Red Boots and Cole Haans” by Monica Buckley Price “Working Mother, Not Guilty” by Sara Nelson “Feminism Meets the Free Market” by Jane Smiley “Happy” by Anne Marie Feld “I Never Dreamed I’d Have So Many Children” by Lila Leff “On Being a Radical Feminist Stay-at-Home Mom” by Inda Schaenen “Being There” by Reshma Memon Yaqub “Russian Dolls” by Veronica Chambers “Peace and Carrots” by Carolyn Hax “Unprotected” by Natalie Smith Parra “Julia” by Anna Fels “On Balance” by Jane Juska “My Baby’s Feet Are Size 13” by Iris Krasnow

“Sadly, Christina’s journey, and her children’s experience of being collateral damage, is not atypical. Kudos for her strength and bravery in putting her story out there as a cautionary tale for others.” (Dr. Susan Weitzman, author, Not to People like Us: Hidden Abuse in Upscale Marriages). “Christina Mask’s Nightmare is constructed around fragments from a life in agony as one woman attempts to escape abuse, retain her sanity, and regain the custody of three children the family court and her husband have taken from her. It’s all here—the daily records over months, then years; the diary entries; the self-blame; the excuses; the shame; the absurdist dialogues with family therapists; marginalia from readings or lectures or religious texts; letters pleadings with judges and lawyers and evaluators; poems; letters to and from the children, real and imagined; the reports that put her claims of abuse in quotations; and so, so much more. These pieces are loosely joined by a narrative and an interior monologue that I sometimes found too much to bear. But then I realized I was scanning something akin to a Picasso painting, whose underlying truth lay not in what was on the page, not the fragments, but in the hope that put them out here, no more evident than in the endlessly reasonable letters Mask writes to intractable foes. Mask has cast her eye on what Yeats termed ‘the broken, crumbling battlement’ of the self and lived to write it. As one director famously said about the sixty women and children crowded into her six-bedroom shelter, ‘If they can manage this, they can manage anything.’ Christina’s book gives us faith that she is right.” (Evan Stark, PhD, MSW. The writer is professor emeritus at Rutgers University, and author of Coercive Control: How Men Entrap Women in Personal Life [Oxford, 2007]).