The Launching Years: Strategies for Parenting from Senior Year to College Life
The Launching Years--a must-read for parents coping with the  two-year transition from high school to college--is an insightful and lively  tour of the bumpy road involving college applications, senioritis, freshman  freedom, and parent/child separation anxiety. "Launching a child into college  can feel as if it's one of our last hands-on parenting acts," explain authors  Laura Kastner and Jennifer Wyatt.The beauty of this book's approach is two-fold: First it opens a window onto the  world of young people leaving home, exploring application procrastination,  senioritis, college choice, ambivalence about independence, and freshman  freak-outs. At the same time, it holds up a mirror to parents, to help them  discover deeper truths about themselves with--and without--their children. For  example, one section about college applications advises parents to consider the  college decision as one involving their child's identity rather than their own  and to make sure the college is a good match for the child.Via lively cases in point and inventive strategies, Kastner and Wyatt address  thorny issues, including parent competition about college plans, sad and glad  siblings, separating by "spoiling the nest," testing limits with drugs or sex,  dumping phone calls from distraught freshmen, and having a college student home  for the holidays. The authors' humor and uncommon wisdom will allow parents to  let go of their children--yet stay connected with them. The fresh ideas in this  book can help parents declare a child's independence and create a more loving  and graceful transition to life after high school.--Barbara Mackoff