Parentless Parents

For the first time in U.S. history, as the average age of women giving birth has increased significantly, millions of children are at risk of having fewer years with their grandparents than ever before. While grandparents are living longer, they’re not living long enough to compensate for these staggering delays. Parentless Parents is the first book to examine how this sweeping demographic shift is affecting every member of the American family.

Allison Gilbert, herself a parentless parent, details her personal story, and with uncommon honesty, shows how raising her children without her mother and father impacted her, her son and daughter, even her marriage. Gilbert also reveals the groundbreaking findings of the Parentless Parents Survey, the first ever conducted, an investigation of more than 1,300 parentless parents from across the United States, and a dozen countries. Gilbert’s work demonstrates that being a parentless parent shapes everything about the way mothers and fathers raise their children – from everyday parenting decisions to the relationships they have with their spouses and in-laws.

Without her parents, Allison Gilbert felt alone in the challenges of motherhood, and set on a quest to find creative ways to keep the memory of her parents alive for her children. Ultimately, Gilbert shares the empowering and creative strategies she’s learned, and the myriad ways parentless parents can find the support and understanding they need.