Setting Boundaries with Your Adult Children

Author: Allison Bottke
www.AllisonBottke.com

Reviewed By: Melinda Cianos

We know it\’s not going to be easy, this business of parenting; it is a test of our will, our patience, our resolve—but with it comes the ultimate expressions of love. Parenting is an awesome, complex and daunting, task. Things go wrong, mistakes are made, learning occurs—all with the hope that there will be growth and a deeper understanding as our relationships with our children evolve. But sometimes circumstances do not unfold this way, and a child may go astray; so far that they are pitifully hard to reach. If you\’ve experienced the painfulness associated with the adult child in your life who has made a choice to live a life tainted with drug and alcohol abuse, you know what this means. If you\’ve been restricted and held hostage by an adult child\’s inability to think and/or do for themselves, barraged by their unending litany of excuses as to why he/she cannot achieve or function independently, you also know what this means.

Author Allison Bottke has written several books and has been featured on the popular television program, The 700 Club. She is the general editor for the God Allows U-Turns series and she wants parents to know that it is time, and their right, to take back control of their lives in a God-centered way, with a loving firmness and boundaries that offer security to both the parent and the child.

In Setting Boundaries with Your Adult Child, Bottke explains the difference between parents who “enable” and parents who “help.” She draws from her own experiences with her wayward son, differentiating between the strategies that help and heal, and those that only cause more suffering. She subscribes to a “tough love” approach and is direct in her delivery of the material she believes parents must have in order to usher their maturing children into responsible adulthood. Well worth reading.