The Launching Years: Strategies for Parenting from Senior Year to College Life »

Laura S. Kastner, Ph.D., is a clinical associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington. She writes and lectures widely on adolescence and family behavior.

Jennifer Wyatt, Ph.D. is a Seattle-based writer who has taught at the college and high school levels.

Launching a child from home is second only to child-birth in its impact on a family. Parents can end up reeling with the empty-nest blues, while teens find their powers of self-reliance stretched to the breaking point. During the time of upheaval that begins senior year of high school with the nerve-wracking college application process and continues into the first year of life away from home, The Launching Years is a trusted resource for keeping every member of the family sane. From weathering the emotional onslaught of impending separation to effectively parenting from afar, from avoiding the slump of “senioritis” to handling the newfound independence and the experimentation with alcohol and sexuality that college often involves, The Launching Years provides both parents and teens with well-written, down-to-earth advice for staying on an even keel throughout this exciting, discomforting, and challenging time.

Library Journal

Here are two very different approaches to parenting a child going off to college. Kasdin is as good as Dave Barry, maybe better. Calling herself a "recovering hyperparent" by book's end, she takes readers through the agonies of raising a son, who, put gently, was a bit of an underachiever and definitely a procrastinator in terms of college decisions. The frantic Kasdin clashes repeatedly with her laid-back son, and, as she nags and frets and loses sleep, the college application process marches on to its inevitable finish: an acceptance at a safe school (but not her first choice for him). Her stories about college information sessions, SATs, interviews, perky campus guides, and developing Plan B (when Plan A fails) are hilarious. Kasdin is a playwright and humorist whose book is well worth reading by the myriad frustrated hyperparents out there. The Launching Years takes a wholly different approach to the topic. Psychologist Kastner (Univ. of Washington) and Wyatt, a writer and mother, see the pre-college years as "inspiring, discomforting, and humbling," and they provide strategies that will help parents "launch" a child successfully. The authors are clear but cautious on many subjects, e.g., college choice, late bloomers, "senioritis," leave-taking, rules for holiday breaks, romantic entanglements, problems with alcohol and drugs, and stress. Kastner and Wyatt do not give pat advice, instead offering options for parents to consider. With its solid psychological background for parents and college-aged kids, this book is also recommended. Linda Beck, Indian Valley P.L., Telford, PA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.