What Happens When Parents Have No Parents by Cathy Alter
I am 45 and pregnant—facts I never thought would exist in the same sentence. But thanks to a very good fertility specialist, nightly injections of a viscous concoction of hormones, and, what my doctor called a "juicy, grade A+ embryo," I have been staring at my growing belly with a mix of bug-eyed amazement and slack-jawed disbelief.
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What's The Impact of the Grandparent Gap? by Raven Snook
As a mom who lives in the same city as both of her parents and her mother-in-law, I didn’t think that Allison Gilbert’s new book Parentless Parents would mean that much to me. Boy was I wrong.
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Show and Tell Blog by Melanie
Today is my mom’s 73^rd birthday. Or, it would have been, I guess; she passed away from breast cancer almost two years ago...
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MomCentric
As more women give birth later, more kids are growing up without grandparents – which can be tough, because a grandparent's unconditional love boosts self-confidence.
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Parenting Without Your Parents by Dawn Raffel
Allison Gilbert lost her mother before she was married; her father died when her first child was a toddler.  "That has been a very big parenting challenge for me," she says.
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Growing Up Without Grandparents by Stephanie Chen
For Tarah Epstein Baiman, parenting without having parents of her own to rely on is like "piloting a plane sans rudder." She learns to make adjustments without their guidance. Extra help comes from people and places she never imagined.
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Parents without Parents by Lisa Belkin
Allison Gilbert misses her parents. They both died before their grandchildren could remember them (her mother before her children were born, and her father when her oldest child was 18 months old) and every day she realizes anew that the loss was not hers alone, but also her son’s and her daughter’s.
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Becoming My Grandmother by Lisa Belkin
There is a moment when the lens shifts, and you see life through the eyes of the person you are becoming rather than the person you have been. “I am becoming my mother,” we say, and sometimes we are joking, but sometimes we have learned something deep.
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No Need to Suffer In Silence: Web Replaces Face-To-Face Support Groups by Heather Cabot
When my friend Allison Gilbert lost her mother in 1996, she was just 25 years old and a newlywed.  One of the most valuable things she did to cope she says was attending weekly meetings of Gilda's Club, a support group for families living with cancer.
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You're not alone in being alone by Elizabeth Oguss
How many books these days speak to people in all walks of life and prompt readers to call or write the author immediately and tell her their own story?
Allison Gilbert can tell you about one such book.
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Pat Farnack Health & Well Being Report Podcasts
Parentless Parents
Memories Enhanced Through Food
If You Never Knew Your Grandparents
Full Interview with Allison Gilbert
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Raising kids without own parents' support by Heather Salerno / Journal News / LoHud.com
By her own account, Irvington's Allison Gilbert has plenty of shoulders to lean on when it comes to raising her children, Jake, 10, and Lexi, 8. She has a loving husband, a caring brother, terrific in-laws and a host of friends and baby sitters who can be relied upon to lend a helping hand.
Yet two important people are missing from this group: Gilbert's parents, Sidney and Lynn, who both passed away by the time she was 31. And that loss leaves Gilbert feeling isolated when it comes to navigating the challenges of motherhood, despite having that very involved network of supporters.
"I have never parented alone," she says, "except I feel very alone."
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Why Family Names Are Central for Parentless Parents by Pamela Redmond Satran
Family names are important to nearly three quarters of expectant parents, according to a Nameberry.com poll, but for parents whose own mother and father have passed away, choosing a name that honors them and keeps their memory alive may take on a special significance.
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blog entry by Jessica Gottlieb about Parentless Parents
If you’re parenting without one or both of your parents this is an excellent resource, if you are parenting with your parents still around it’s an exceptionally well written book that will keep you grateful.
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blog entry by Betsy Cadel about Parentless Parents
My dad died when I was 22 -- long before I met my husband, or had my son -- and my mom is very much alive. So you wouldn't necessarily think that the book Parentless Parents, by my friend Allison Gilbert, would resonate with someone like me. And yet it is one of the most inspiring parenting books I've ever read.
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a la mama
blog entry by Candace Walsh about Parentless Parents
Instead of waiting for others to surprise, spoil, wine, dine and fete her, she susses out what she needs and then MAKES IT HAPPEN. I’m inspired. I really am.
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Circle of Solace
for Those Without Parents
For people struggling to keep family traditions going and helping their families adjust after the loss of grandparents, Parentless Parents support groups have sprung up in the last two years in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, California and Rhode Island.
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A Mother's Legacy
On this Mother's Day, Allison Gilbert of Irvington will celebrate with her family the same way she always does. She'll get breakfast in bed and hand-made cards from her husband, Mark Weintraub, and their children, Jake, who's 8, and Lexi, who's almost 6. But the holiday will be different in one way, a way that Jake and Lexi are too young to understand.
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Are You a Parentless Parent?
If so, there's a new support group for you. The group, which is still in its infancy--and about to have its second meeting--is an offshoot of Always Too Soon: Voices of Support for Those Who Lost Both Parents. Written by Irvington resident Allison Gilbert, the book is an intimate collection of interviews with celebrities and ordinary folks about the emotional impact of losing both parents.
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Parentless Parents
The holidays are approaching, and if you're a parentless parent, that means celebrating without your parents. It also means your child will celebrate without their grandparents. Parentless Parents, a community of adults who have experienced the loss of their mother and father, is gathering for mutual support and understanding.
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Being a Parentless Parent
As a parentless parent, you become solely responsible for giving your children a sense of family history. Your kids no longer have grandparents to tell them stories and important facts and dates... That's why it's so great that a new network of informal support groups has started to appear all over the country called Parentless Parents.
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Missing Mom & Dad
Gilbert has solved part of her parenting puzzle by telling her children lots of stories about her parents, ones that appeal to all the senses, from smell and sound to taste... As a result, her kids have learned things about their grandparents that they can share. "There's always going to be a milestone that you'll want to share," she says. "It's always too soon to lose your parents.
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Losing Both Parents

Allison Gilbert was devastated when her mother lost her battle with ovarian cancer in 1996. 
But it was her father's death five years later that sent her into a tailspin.
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