Family life in America has changed drastically over the last few decades. With forty being the new twenty for women starting a family, it indicates they are no longer prepared to risk their biological clock ticking away while waiting for Mr. Right to come along! While we have all been brainwashed at some point into believing the ideal family has two children, the trend toward one-child families throughout the world is unmistakable.
When social psychologist Susan Newman first published Parenting the Only Child with Random House twenty years ago she was clearly ahead of her time. Here we are now in this new decade where the single child is the fastest growing family unit due to either the rise in the cost of living, the necessity of two-family incomes, older first-time parents, or all three. These and other statistics are discussed and explored in Susan’s latest book, The Case for the Only Child (HCI Books – $14.95).
While people think they know how many children they want, they are rocked into reality by costs, infertility problems, job constraints, or being told they are selfish if they don’t have a second child. As more women and men, by choice or circumstance, keep their families small, the pressures and questions remain:
• What’s really wrong with having one child? • Is one enough for you? For your partner? • What constitutes a complete, happy family? • Will your only child be lonely, spoiled, bossy, or selfish?
The pervasiveness of only-child folklore masquerading as fact implored Dr. Newman to set the record straight about what research really says about having and being an only child while offering the latest findings about the long-term effects of being raised as a singleton.
Being the one to open the dialogue about only children, Dr. Newman was fascinated by the response from both sides of the debate. In The Case for the Only Child, she discusses the pros and cons of a larger family and walks parents (and future parents) through the long list of facts:
• 41% of newborns are born to women over 35 • Five times more people adopt one child as adopt two • Over 70 percent of women with children work • It costs approximately $286,000, not including college, to raise a child today
And asks the questions:
• Why the increase in one-child families? (Starting families later; the stress of needing to work; infertility; divorce; more single parents; step families, and more.) • Can we afford another child? Physically? Emotionally? Financially? • How do children affect women’s employment? The Motherhood Penalty is 5 percent per child…larger in some fields. • The unspoken truth about siblings—does your child need one? • How will the only child fare in the future—without parents and siblings to lean on? • What will the 21st Century family look like? The time is right to discuss a new definition of family and the emerging type of nuclear family—one that consists of a solo child, what Dr. Newman calls and is fast becoming The New Traditional Family. The Case for the Only Child guides parents with one child and parents-to-be through the process of determining what they want so they can feel confident and happy with their decision—whatever it may be.
About The Author: Susan Newman, Ph.D., social psychologist and parenting expert has written 15 books in the family relationship field. She has appeared on 20/20, GMA, The Today Show, and many other television news and radio shows discussing family life and parenting. She is the parent to four stepchildren, the mother of one son, and has a sibling with whom she has an excellent relationship. In other words, her approach to this topic is objective and grounded in decades of research. She lives in New Jersey. You can visit Dr. Newman’s website: www.susannewmanphd.com.
THE CASE FOR THE ONLY CHILD Your Essential Guide Susan Newman, Ph.D. Author of Psychology Today’s “Singletons” blog ISBN: 0-7573-1551-0
Ascot Media Group (Press Release) – Cambridge, MA, May 29, 2011- Even in our modern world, ‘menopause’ still bears a stigma and people still speak about it softly for fear that it might be contagious. Truth is, every woman has to go through it; there is no way to avoid it – so why not get the best possible information to help in the transition? Doctors Lovera Wolf Miller and David C. Miller understand this and it is a primary reason they wrote Womenopause: Stop Pausing and Start Living (O-Books) – an exceptional book that acts as an informative yet compassionate guide through menopause.
Even the most self-assured woman anticipates menopause with dread; conjuring up visions of decline and even associating it with losing their looks – or worse, possibly even their husband! Womenopause was written to help the over six thousand women reaching menopause in America every single day, and Drs. David and Lovera Miller recognize that there is a real need for help on this sensitive subject that encompasses more than half of a woman’s lifetime between peri-menopause and post-menopause.
Womenopause is a breath of fresh air to many women because it offers real solutions on everything from hormones and hot flashes, brain and bone preservation, breast health, skin, fitness, food, sleep, to intimacy and more. In other words, it is packed with thirty years of proven success rather than a swing in trends that has become ‘the cure du jour!’
The superior credentials of both doctors authenticate how they have devoted their lives to helping menopausal women. Dr. Lovera is a board certified obstetrician and gynecologist, a Fellow of the American College of Obstetrics & Gynecology, and a certified menopause practitioner. Dr. David Miller is boarded in pain and anesthesiology, taught neuroanatomy at UCLA, was an instructor of courses in physiology and neurophysiology, and is also a certified menopause practitioner.
TIP SHEET: Sharon J. Parish, M.D Professor of Medicine, Albert Einstein School of Medicine: “…it’s a fabulous book. Womenopause is a very well-rounded, comprehensive compendium on the female transition commonly termed menopause. …offer a refreshing look at a natural process that affects every aspect of the midlife woman’s health and well-being. They challenge standard social concepts of menopause as well as provide a new paradigm that focuses on vitality and wellness. The book offers a clear and understandable, yet thorough and scientifically sound explanation of the physiology of menopause and the anticipated physical, psychological and mental changes. The authors offer a well-balanced view of available remedies for symptoms including hormonal, non-hormonal-pharmaceutical, and alternative treatments. Also, they nicely discuss behavioral and lifestyle approaches. This book is a tremendous resource for any woman seeking to employ an intelligent and multifaceted approach to the Womenopause transition.”
Ascot Media Group (Press Release) – Southlake, Texas, April 25, 2011 – They aren’t suggesting you cajole your spouse into bed with the plaintive wail, “But honey, it’s doctor’s orders!” Some might try that approach, of course, but the physicians who wrote “Stay Young: 10 Proven Steps to Ultimate Health” are simply saying that sex is good for you.
It’s all there in Chapter 8 – by far the most talked-about pages of “Stay Young” (George House Publishing, 2010), a hot-selling book from authors Mark Anderson, MD; Walter Gaman, MD; and Judith Gaman, health expert and public speaker.
The book’s cover depicts an attractive, naked couple cuddling under the sheets, so you know right away this isn’t your typical health and wellness guide. But don’t go looking for pure titillation in Chapter 8. The doctors present their case in a straightforward, convincing manner and support it with case studies and facts. But there’s no denying they have turned health into an – ahem – exciting topic, and when’s the last time you saw the word “sexy” next to healthcare?
“The fountain of youth can be found between the sheets,” said Dr. Anderson, who, along with the Gamans, runs Executive Medicine of Texas in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. “Frequent intercourse causes the brain to release human growth hormone, which helps maintain youth.”
Dr. Gaman points out that “middle-aged men who have sex five times a week can lower the risk for prostate cancer by 33 percent, compared to those that have sex only five times a month.”
Judy Gaman adds another startling fact: “Vigorous sex three times a week for a year is the equivalent caloric burn as walking 75 miles.”
Staying Young: 10 Proven Steps to Ultimate Health is the first health book to include a weekly orgasm chart so readers can log their number of orgasms and how long they engaged in sex each day.
Is more always better? Whether or not a point of diminishing returns exists, Dr. Anderson is convinced that “having sex can increase your immunity. A recent study showed that sexual intercourse at least three times a week can increase IGA, a protein that acts as an antibody by binding to pathogens that enter the body.”
For more information, contact Executive Medicine of Texas at 817-552-4300 or see their website at www.emtexas.com.
