Download or read book Surviving Childlessness written by Steph Penny and published by . This book was released on 2021-02 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Childlessness is often viewed as a problem to be fixed. Many childless people are plagued with advice about relaxing, praying more and 'just' adopting. In church congregations, where children and families usually form the majority, childless people frequently feel isolated and excluded. The key to surviving childlessness lies not in simply 'fixing it' but in solidarity, healthy grieving and embracing one's vulnerabilities. In Surviving Childlessness I tell thirteen people's unique stories of childlessness and share my own story of being childless-by-forced-choice. With compassion, frankness and humour, we explore how healing can be found in re-discovering and re-inventing ourselves and in embracing the mysteries of God, even-or especially-in suffering.
Download or read book Childless by Marriage written by Sue Fagalde Lick and published by . This book was released on 2021-06 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First you marry a man who does not want children. He cheats and you divorce him. Then you marry the love of your life and find out he does not want to have children with you either. The three he has are more than enough. Although you always wanted to be a mother, you decide he is worth the sacrifice, expecting to have a long happy life together. But that's not what happens. This is the story of how a woman becomes childless by marriage and how it affects every aspect of her life. This is the book of my heart, the one I had to write. Ever since I realized I was not going to have children, I have felt recurring grief and an emptiness in my heart. I am different from most women, but I have found that I am not alone. There are many of us childless women, and I think it's important to share our stories about what it's like when you don't have children in a world where most girls grow up to become mothers. I hope this book offers comfort to those who are childless and understanding to those who are not. If it makes you smile here and there, even better.
Download or read book Life Without Baby written by Lisa Manterfield and published by Steel Rose Press. This book was released on 2017-02 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “What if I never get to be a mother?” When this doubt first takes hold, it can knock you completely off your feet. You feel cheated, frustrated, and no longer sure of your place in society, your family, or your circle of friends. Now…imagine you could spend time with someone who really understands how you feel, who lets you express all the things that once seemed whiny, self-indulgent, or just plain crazy, and who confides that she once felt that way too. Life Without Baby founder, Lisa Manterfield, once stood where you are and not only survived, but thrived. Now she shares what she learned from her own experiences and from the women of the community she created. She’ll help you: – Know when it’s time to cut your losses and let go of your dream – Give yourself permission to grieve the loss that few others can truly understand – Learn some emotional aikido moves to handle social challenges, such as baby showers, Mother’s Day, and the dreaded “Do you have kids?” question – Rediscover your passion and find joy again, without enduring a complete life makeover – Get pragmatic about aging without children and building a new kind of family Based on her small-group workshops and popular ebook series, this book offers a combination of hard-won lessons, gentle queries, and real-world suggestions. Manterfield is a comforting and supportive companion who will guide you gently down your own path to making peace with being childfree-not-by-choice and thriving in a new happily ever after.
Download or read book Living the Life Unexpected written by Jody Day and published by Pan Macmillan. This book was released on 2016-02-25 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘The book to recommend to patients when they face coming to terms with unavoidable childlessness.' – British Medical Journal In Living the Life Unexpected, Jody Day addresses the experience of involuntary childlessness and provides a powerful, practical guide to help those negotiating a future without children come to terms with their grief; a grief that is only just beginning to be recognized by society. This friendly, practical, humorous and honest guide from one of the world’s most respected names in childless support offers compassion and understanding and shows how it’s possible to move towards a creative, happy, meaningful and fulfilling future – even if it’s not the one you had planned. Millions of people are now living a life without children, almost double that of a generation ago and the numbers are rising still. Although some are childfree by choice, many others are childless due to infertility or circumstance and are struggling to come to terms with their uncertain future. Although most people think that those without children either 'couldn't' or 'didn't want’ to be parents, the truth is much more complex. Jody Day was forty-four when she realized that her quest to be a mother was at an end. She presumed that she was through the toughest part, but over the next couple of years she was hit by waves of grief, despair and isolation. Eventually she found her way and in 2011 created Gateway Women, the global friendship and support network for childless women which has now helped almost two million people worldwide. This edition, previously titled Rocking the Life Unexpected, has been extensively revised and updated, with significant additional content and case studies from forty involuntarily childless people (mostly women) from around the world.
Download or read book Childlessness in Europe Contexts Causes and Consequences written by Michaela Kreyenfeld and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-01-11 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is published open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This open access book provides an overview of childlessness throughout Europe. It offers a collection of papers written by leading demographers and sociologists that examine contexts, causes, and consequences of childlessness in countries throughout the region.The book features data from all over Europe. It specifically highlights patterns of childlessness in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Finland, Sweden, Austria and Switzerland. An additional chapter on childlessness in the United States puts the European experience in perspective. The book offers readers such insights as the determinants of lifelong childlessness, whether governments can and should counteract increasing childlessness, how the phenomenon differs across social strata and the role economic uncertainties play. In addition, the book also examines life course dynamics and biographical patterns, assisted reproduction as well as the consequences of childlessness. Childlessness has been increasing rapidly in most European countries in recent decades. This book offers readers expert analysis into this issue from leading experts in the field of family behavior. From causes to consequences, it explores the many facets of childlessness throughout Europe to present a comprehensive portrait of this important demographic and sociological trend.
Download or read book Upright with Knickers On Surviving the Death of a Child written by Claye Gina and published by . This book was released on 2019-09-24 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gina Claye, a bereaved mum, shares how she survived the death of her two children: what helped her to keep going, and, after experiencing the pain and despair of traumatic grief, live life again with hope and meaning.
Download or read book The Light Between Oceans written by M.L. Stedman and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A cloth bag containing ten copies of the title.
Download or read book Surviving Singledom written by Steph Penny and published by . This book was released on 2016-10-27 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While our society is increasingly choosing to be single, the majority of the Christian population marries at an early age. Christians who choose singledom for the purpose of serving in ministry can lead fulfilling lives. However, most Christian singles have no wish to remain so and they often experience frustration, isolation and crises of faith. Christians who remain single into their late 20s and 30s can become trapped in a state of perpetual singledom. Surviving Singledom tackles the challenges faced by many Christian singles today. Everything from sex to sanity is discussed in this humorous and hopeful take on singleness. This book will help single Christians to hold onto their faith during times of doubt and turmoil, with an encouragement to follow Christ as a role model and Saviour.
Download or read book Crossing the River written by Carol Smith and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2021-05-04 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A powerful exploration of grief and resilience following the death of the author's son that combines memoir, reportage, and lessons in how to heal Everyone deals with grief in their own way. Helen Macdonald found solace in training a wild goshawk. Cheryl Strayed found strength in hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. For Carol Smith, a Pulitzer Prize nominated journalist struggling with the sudden death of her seven-year-old son, Christopher, the way to cross the river of sorrow was through work. In Crossing the River, Smith recounts how she faced down her crippling loss through reporting a series of profiles of people coping with their own intense challenges, whether a life-altering accident, injury, or diagnosis. These were stories of survival and transformation, of people facing devastating situations that changed them in unexpected ways. Smith deftly mixes the stories of these individuals and their families with her own account of how they helped her heal. General John Shalikashvili, once the most powerful member of the American military, taught Carol how to face fear with discipline and endurance. Seth, a young boy with a rare and incurable illness, shed light on the totality of her son's experiences, and in turn helps readers see that the value of a life is not measured in days. Crossing the River is a beautiful and profoundly moving book, an unforgettable journey through grief toward hope, and a valuable, illuminating read for anyone coping with loss.
Download or read book How to Be Childless written by Rachel Chrastil and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2019 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In How to Be Childless: A History and Philosophy of Life Without Children, Rachel Chrastil explores the long and fascinating history of childlessness, putting this often-overlooked legacy in conversation with the issues that childless women and men face in the twenty-first century. Eschewing two dominant narratives, that the childless are either barren and alone, or that they are carefree and selfish, How to Be Childless instead argues that the lives of childless individuals from the past can help all of us expand our range of possibilities for the good life. In uncovering the voices and experiences of childless women from the past five hundred years, Chrastil demonstrates that the pathways to childlessness, so often simplified as "choice" and "circumstance," are far more complex and interweaving. Balanced, deeply researched, and richly realized, How to be Childless will empower readers, parents and childless alike, to navigate their lives with purpose.
Download or read book Child Survival written by Nancy Scheper-Hughes and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: of older children, adults, and the family unit as a whole. These moral evaluations are, in turn, influenced by such external contingencies as popula tion demography, social and economic factors, subsistence strategies, house hold composition, and by cultural ideas concerning the nature of infancy and childhood, definitions of personhood, and beliefs about the soul and its immortality. MOTHER LOVE AND CHILD DEATH Of all the many factors that endanger the lives of young children, by far the most difficult to examine with any degree of dispassionate objectivity is the quality of parenting. Historians and social scientists, no less than the public at large, are influenced by old cultural myths about childhood inno cence and mother love as well as their opposites. The terrible power and significance attributed to maternal behavior (in particular) is a commonsense perception based on the observation that the human infant (specialized as it is for prematurity and prolonged dependency) simply cannot survive for very long without considerable maternal love and care. The infant's life depends, to a very great extent, on the good will of others, but most especially, of course, that of the mother. Consequently, it has been the fate of mothers throughout history to appear in strange and distorted forms. They may appear as larger than life or as invisible; as all-powerful and destructive; or as helpless and angelic. Myths of the maternal instinct compete, historically, witli -myths of a universal infanticidal impulse.
Download or read book Longing for Motherhood written by Chelsea Patterson Sobolik and published by Moody Publishers. This book was released on 2018-03-06 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When hopes for motherhood are deferred... Childlessness remains a taboo topic in today’s culture, especially in Christian circles. Many women feel isolated, ashamed, or uncertain of how to reconcile this trial with a loving God. The death of the dream of motherhood—whether from infertility, barrenness, miscarriage, or the loss of a child—is one of the hardest journeys women can walk through. In Longing for Motherhood, Chelsea Patterson Sobolik speaks to these burdens specifically. She shares vulnerably about her own journey of childlessness and how she has ultimately come to view her story through the lens of Scripture and our hope in Christ. While remaining tender and empathetic toward suffering and longing, she discusses the comfort we have in knowing that the Lord is sovereign over all, and that His love is sufficient to carry us through any and every situation. A timely book for women struggling with childlessness, as well as for pastors, friends, and family who want to care for them well, Longing for Motherhood is a tender, truthful companion for a difficult journey.
Download or read book Salt Water and Honey written by Lizzie Lowrie and published by Authentic. This book was released on 2020-03 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An honest look at the messiness of life when you are forced to live the life you didn't imagine. Salt Water and Honey is a story about pregnancy loss and childlessness that doesn't end with a baby. It's told from the messy middle, allowing space for the tension between faith and loss to remain rather than trying to neaten it up with solutions and reasons. Lizzie has experienced the pain of multiple miscarriages and writes honestly about her struggle and fight to find God in her suffering. She is honest about the low points and the pain, but she also shares her journey as she comes to understand that her true identity is not defined by motherhood but by being a child of God. Lizzie's story provides a safe space to remind people that they're not alone, it's okay to grieve and their story matters. Covering many universal truths such as unanswered prayer, grief, disappointment, vulnerability and faith in crisis this book is actually for anyone who has lost their dream and is struggling to understand that their story still has meaning and purpose even when life looks nothing like they hoped it would.
Download or read book Olive written by Emma Gannon and published by Andrews McMeel Publishing. This book was released on 2021-03-09 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The debut novel about the life-changing choices we make about careers, love, friendship, and motherhood from bestselling UK author Emma Gannon. Olive is many things. Independent. Driven. Loyal. And a little bit adrift. She’s okay with still figuring it all out, navigating her world without a compass. But life comes with expectations and big choices to be made. So when her best friends’ lives branch away towards marriage and motherhood, leaving the path they’ve always followed together, she starts to question her choices—because life according to Olive looks a little bit different. Moving, memorable, and a mirror for anyone at a crossroads, OLIVE has a little bit of all of us. Told with humor and great warmth, this is a modern tale about the obstacle course of adulthood and the challenges of having—and deciding not to have—children.
Download or read book Infertility written by Cindy Lewis Dake and published by New Hope Publishers (AL). This book was released on 2002 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With perfect hindsight, Dake gives practical insights for infertile couples on surviving holidays, relating to well-meaning family and friends, working through infertility's strain on a marriage, and deciding whether to continue to pursue parenthood. "Infertility" encompasses relevant medical issues, fertility options, and adoption.
Download or read book Two Is Enough written by Laura Scott and published by Seal Press. This book was released on 2009-09-22 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fall in love. Get married. Have children. For most couples, marriage and children go hand in hand. And yet, the number of people choosing childlessness is on the rise. These are the childless by choice—people who have actively decided not to have children—rather than the childless by circumstance. In Two Is Enough, Laura S. Scott explores the assumptions surrounding childrearing, and explores the reasons many people are choosing to forgo this experience. Scott, founder of the Childless by Choice Project, examines the personal stories of people who have faced this decision and explores the growing trend of childlessness. Scott’s expert knowledge and analysis offer a picture of the childless by choice—who they are, why they’ve chosen to remain childless, and how they’ve had these conversations with loved ones. Honest and unapologetic, Two Is Enough recognizes the challenges of being childless in today’s society and offers suggestions on how that same society can change to make room for the childless and the childfree.
Download or read book Regretting Motherhood written by Orna Donath and published by North Atlantic Books. This book was released on 2017-07-11 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Women who opt not to be mothers are frequently warned that they will regret their decision later in life, yet we rarely talk about the possibility that the opposite might also be true—that women who have children might regret it. Drawing on years of research interviewing women from a variety of socioeconomic, educational, and professional backgrounds, sociologist Orna Donath treats regret as a feminist issue: as regret marks the road not taken, we need to consider whether alternative paths for women currently are blocked off. She asks that we pay attention to what is forbidden by rules governing motherhood, time, and emotion, including the cultural assumption that motherhood is a “natural” role for women—for the sake of all women, not just those who regret becoming mothers. If we are disturbed by the idea that a woman might regret becoming a mother, Donath says, our response should not be to silence and shame these women; rather, we need to ask honest and difficult questions about how society pushes women into motherhood and why those who reconsider it are still seen as a danger to the status quo. Groundbreaking, thoughtful, and provocative, this is an especially needed book in our current political climate, as women's reproductive rights continue to be at the forefront of national debates.
