Dr. Mark McConville — Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books — TBD

Dr. Mark McConville, FAILURE TO LAUNCH

Dr. Mark McConville, FAILURE TO LAUNCH

Mark: It's a book for parents, and specifically parents of kids who are entering emerging adulthood, being eighteen to thirty, roughly. That first part of emerging adulthood is usually referred to as the launching substage. That substage has, actually, a curriculum to it. There are things we want to see kids doing. We know if they're doing them, it portends well for where they're going to end up by age thirty. When they're not doing them, I encounter parents who are just perplexed. The fact is there is no handbook for, how do you parent a twentysomething? Today's generation of parents are much more, I don't want to say saddled, but they are engaged with their kids longer because kids need support longer, given all of the particulars about education and the economy. They're left still being close to the action, seeing their kid's behavior, unless the kid is doing it on his or her own. They're stumped as to how to intervene, how to exert influence, how to do it in a way that is constructive rather than just creating conflict and friction.