Book Review: Helping Your Kids Cope with Divorce the Sandcastles Way

This book review is part of a series that covers the topic of Divorce. Divorce is a judicial declaration dissolving a marriage and releasing the husband and wife from all matrimonial obligations. Carolyn Ellis is the Official Guide to Divorce.nnHelping Your Kids Cope with Divorce the Sandcastles Way, by M. Gary Neuman, Patricia Romanowski, is a valuable resource for people interested in Divorce, and it is available through Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.nnAmazon.comnKids tend to blame themselves when parents divorce. The Sandcastles workshop--now mandatory in over a dozen counties throughout the United States--is a half-day group session for children of divorce between the ages of 6 and 17. This intensive workshop helps kids open up and deal with their feelings through drawings, games, poetry, role playing, and other activities. Helping Your Kids Cope with Divorce details many of the workshop exercises, all designed to increase communication, understanding, and togetherness between parents and kids. The book is also packed full of suggestions on everything from the best way to break the divorce news to a child (it differs according to age group) to facing the holidays, visitation, custody arrangements, anger, discipline, co-parenting, single parenting, overcompensation, sorrow, custody fights, and much more.nnAuthor Gary Neuman never patronizes or preaches, and although he is technically a child advocate, he proves himself to be an advocate of every member of the divorcing family. Neuman takes a hands-on approach and believes that children need not be permanently scarred by divorce--that with work and time, divorce can actually become a positive force for change. A powerful tool for protecting children caught amid parental struggles, Helping Your Kids Cope with Divorce should be required reading in all divorcing families. --Ericka Lutz --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. nnFrom Library JournalnMore than 20,000 children have taken part in the SandcastlesTM program, a method through which children of divorcing parents learn to cope with the breakup by meeting with each other and trained counselors. This program, completed in one 3.5-hour session, is available in Miami, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, and dozens of other cities. Neuman, a couselor, rabbi, and creator of the SandcastlesTM program, encourages children to speak, draw, and write to help them express their feelings and realize that they are not alone, weird, or at fault. Here he writes for parents who may not have access to the sessions and want to help their children through the experience of divorce. This is a thorough guide, using the art, letters, prose, and expressions from children in SandcastlesTM programs across the country. Sidebars, quotations, "dos and don'ts," and surveys make it easy to read. Highly recommended for all parenting shelves. Linda Beck, Indian Valley P.L., Telford, PAnCopyright © 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.