Parent Goals: The Millennial's Guide to New Parent Preparedness

by Lindsay C.M. Garrett, Vanessa Lapointe (Foreword by)

Overview

Child welfare and adoption specialist Lindsay Garrett, LCSW, teaches Millennials considering having kids how to emotionally prepare for parenthood, determine their parenting style and values, and establish sustainable support.

In your prime child-rearing years and mulling the question Am I ready to have a baby? Millennials contemplating kids can now turn to Parent Goals, a guide to emotional preparedness for parenthood. Child welfare and adoption specialist Lindsay Garrett leverages her professional expertise and experience as a new parent to lead readers through the mental prep work needed before embarking on this important life choice.

Parent Goals is the book to turn to before you make the decision to become a parent. Unlike other books on the topic that focus on pregnancy and kids’ life stages, Parent Goals outlines the most important—and least explained—aspects of having children, including emotional readiness, attachment theory, and determining your values as a parent.

In addition to offering advice and guidance, Parent Goals is the first book to address the emergence of the co-parenting style popular with Millennials, which involves a more equitable division of labor than we have seen in previous generations. Garrett’s down-to-earth and sometimes cheeky writing style makes Parent Goals an accessible and engaging read for the Millennial generation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781637560082
Publisher:	Wonderwell
Publication date:	11/16/2021
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Lindsay C. M. Garrett, LCSW is an expert in the field of adoption, parent preparation, and child welfare. Lindsay is known for her directness, witty sense of humor, loving others through sharing knowledge, and always having a plan. Lindsay started writing for Houston Moms’ blog in the same year she became a parent. Her brain tends to sort things out through writing them down, and in her quest to sort through the transition to parenthood, she wrote her first book, Parent Goals: The Millennial’s Guide to New Parent Preparedness. For her entire career, children have been Lindsay’s passion, and by extension their parents. She has spent ten years supporting parents through adoption, and the most inspiring part of her work is seeing the magic and mess of growing families. When she is not working or writing, you can find Lindsay watching as much TV as her kids will allow, organizing life in her bullet journal, or baking treats in an introvert’s ploy to make friends. Lindsay lives in Spring, TX with her husband and two children.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Garrett rejects the standard of mothers as ‘default parents’ and writes to parents as a team, offering no shortage of practical advice. New parents will find this [book] worth returning to.”

—Publishers Weekly

“If you’re considering parenthood, but you’re not sure what questions you should be asking, how you should emotionally prepare, or what to do to set yourself up for success, this is the book for you. Garrett’s advice is smart, thoughtful, and incredibly useful.”

—Melinda Wenner Moyer, contributing editor, Scientific American, and author of How to Raise Kids Who Aren’t Assholes

“One of the most challenging parts of parenting is dealing with the unknown. Parent Goals helps demystify those early days and offers parents concrete advice as they prepare for their new roles. By sharing her own experiences and expertise, Garrett helps parents be thoughtful and purposeful in their parenting decisions.”

—Dr. Christia Spears Brown, author of Parenting Beyond Pink & Blue and Unraveling Bias

“If you’re looking for your baby’s user manual… well, that doesn’t exist but Parent Goals comes pretty close. Garrett mixes her own story as a mom with her journey as a parenting mental health specialist, and then adds in nuggets of goodness from all the parents she interviewed. Parent Goals is a real honest look at preparing for a baby mixed with optimism and humor.”

—Robyn Gobbel, therapist and parent educator

“Parent Goals is the right combination of evidence-based parenting reality, humor, and tangible instruction. This guide provides a clear road map for new parents to ‘all the things I wish I had known.’”

—Mark Melson, president of the Gladney Center for Adoption

“This is the book I wish I had read a decade ago. There are countless practical and emotional aspects of parenting I had no idea would impact our lives so dramatically, and Parent Goals gives a framework for parents to talk them through before children enter the scene.”

—Elizabeth Baker, editor of Houston Moms blog

Editorial Reviews

09/06/2021

Millennials are “raising a generation that can change the world... the pressure is on,” writes social worker Garrett in her encouraging debut. Doling out the guidance she wished she’d had when contemplating motherhood, Garrett begins by advising couples to ask themselves about their goals and expectations (“what makes you want to be a parent in the first place,” for example). She then tackles such topics as parenting styles, self-care, and relationships with extended family. Her advice is especially strong in sections on new-parent anxieties (“when we share them, we lessen their power”) and attachment theory (“we have the power to change generational dysfunction if we summon the courage to be vulnerable”). Garrett rejects the standard of mothers as “default parents” and writes to parents as a team, offering no shortage of practical advice—meet with a financial planner and write a parenting mission statement, she advises. Things always come with a satisfying dose of understanding: “The beauty and challenge of children is that they are constantly changing and growing, and we as parents must evolve right along with them. Ready to get started? Deep breath. Here we go.” New parents will find this worth returning to. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Garrett rejects the standard of mothers as ‘default parents’ and writes to parents as a team, offering no shortage of practical advice. New parents will find this [book] worth returning to.”

—Publishers Weekly

“If you’re considering parenthood, but you’re not sure what questions you should be asking, how you should emotionally prepare, or what to do to set yourself up for success, this is the book for you. Garrett’s advice is smart, thoughtful, and incredibly useful.”

—Melinda Wenner Moyer, contributing editor, Scientific American, and author of How to Raise Kids Who Aren’t Assholes

“One of the most challenging parts of parenting is dealing with the unknown. Parent Goals helps demystify those early days and offers parents concrete advice as they prepare for their new roles. By sharing her own experiences and expertise, Garrett helps parents be thoughtful and purposeful in their parenting decisions.”

—Dr. Christia Spears Brown, author of Parenting Beyond Pink & Blue and Unraveling Bias

“If you’re looking for your baby’s user manual… well, that doesn’t exist but Parent Goals comes pretty close. Garrett mixes her own story as a mom with her journey as a parenting mental health specialist, and then adds in nuggets of goodness from all the parents she interviewed. Parent Goals is a real honest look at preparing for a baby mixed with optimism and humor.”

—Robyn Gobbel, therapist and parent educator

“Parent Goals is the right combination of evidence-based parenting reality, humor, and tangible instruction. This guide provides a clear road map for new parents to ‘all the things I wish I had known.’”

—Mark Melson, president of the Gladney Center for Adoption

“This is the book I wish I had read a decade ago. There are countless practical and emotional aspects of parenting I had no idea would impact our lives so dramatically, and Parent Goals gives a framework for parents to talk them through before children enter the scene.”

—Elizabeth Baker, editor of Houston Moms blog

From the Publisher