Almost all books for parents focus on the way children develop. Ellen Galinsky, instead, writes about how parents develop. Drawing on the work in adult development of Erik Erikson and DanielLevinson, she describes six distinct stages in the life of a parent: the image-making that occurs during pregnancy; the nurturing rolethat swallows parents up from birth through the first couple of years; the authority parents must develop as small children showindependence; the interpretive stage when parents explain the world and their values to school-age children.

The Image-Making Stage * Introduction * Accepting the Pregnancy * Preparing for Parenthood * Preparing for the Birth * Reconciling Ones Images of Birth with Reality * Facing the Feelings of Attachment * Redefining Relationships in the Early Years The Authority Stage * Developing Authority * Gaining Distance * Dealing with Sex Roles and Identity The Interpretive Stage * Interpreting Oneself as a Parent * Interpreting Ones Children to the Children * Separating and Connecting * Interpreting the World to the Children * Deciding How Involved to Be The Interdependent Stage * Adapting to a New Authority Relationship * Dealing with Sexuality * Accepting the Teenagers Identity * Forming New Bonds with the Almost-Grown Child The Departure Stage * Preparing for the Departure * Preparing for the Departure * Adapting to the Departure * Changing Images * Loosening Control * Taking Stock of Successes and Failures * Epilogue