Lisa Dunning, California Marriage & Family Therapist
Parent / Child Relationship Expert

Coping With A Sick Parent

I have a husband who is a great dad. He will go the extra mile for our children. He is attentive and really seems to enjoy spending time with our children. He seems to be able to play with them non stop until he becomes ill! His colds and fevers can put him out of commission for what seems like weeks! I'm sure you heard the expression that if men could have babies there would be no children. Well, that is definitely true with my husband. All kidding aside, when a parent is sick, whether it is with the flu, a cold or something serious, it becomes very strenuous for the healthy parent. The entire burden falls on the healthy parent's shoulders. Now your role has changed. Not only do you have to take care of your children, the house, a pet and possibly your job, you also have the added responsibility of caring for a sick partner.

Coping With A Long Term Or Permanent Illness

When the sickness is more severe or one parent has suffered a debilitating injury, the frustration for the healthy parent can prove to be overwhelming. The rules for coping remain the same. Take care of yourself and do not be afraid to ask for help. The problem is that unfortunately it will take longer than a week and your resolve, patience and persistence will be severely tested, making the rules for coping all the more important to keep your sanity and your health.

Good Parents Bad Parenting helped me so much with my family. Finally a book that discusses both parents point of views.

I loved working on mine and my husband's family history. It explained a lot on how and why we both parent the way we do.

Bravo to you Lisa-I can't wait for your next book!

"Good Parents Bad Parenting" explained how and why I keep repeating the same mistakes my parents made. Lisa Dunning offered great suggestions on how to break those patterns.

"Good Parents Bad Parenting" is a great reference guide for me. This is the parenting book I have been searching for.

Thank you Lisa!

Lisa Dunning's book, "Good Parents Bad Parenting" offers useful and creative exercises, games and information on how to strengthen not only my relationship with my child but with my husband as well.

My husband and I generally agree on parenting, but this book helped us iron out the areas where we disagreed.

I found Lisa Dunning's book to be very helpful with my family. My husband loved that the man's point of view was represented.

I recommend this book to everyone who is a parent.

To order the parenting book, "Good Parents Bad Parenting" eBook + the 2 FREE E-books: As soon as you fill out the secure order form and hit the "submit" button, you'll be taken to a page that gives the download instructions for saving parenting book, "Good Parents Bad Parenting" to your computer.

Parenting book, "Good Parents Bad Parenting" takes approximately 3 minutes to download, and is in PDF format using Acrobat Reader - a free program which is probably already installed on your computer, but you'll receive directions for getting your free copy on the download page, just in case.

"With more parenting knowledge comes greater parenting confidence;  with greater parenting confidence comes greater self esteem;  with greater self esteem, parents can more effectively share their parenting knowledge, confidence and self esteem with their children."
- Lisa Dunning, MA, MFT