Parenting With Courage: A Mother's Survival Story

THIS MEMOIR IS A KINDLE SHORT READ OF ABOUT 14,300 WORDS AND CONTAINS ALL OF PARTS I - V PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED SEPARATELY.

This volume contains:

Part I, The First Year
Cynthia Crosse describes the excitement of finding out – at 34 – she is finally pregnant. But what starts out as a joyous adventure in parenthood turns to a nightmare when her newborn baby refuses to sleep and does nothing but cry, night and day. Now Cynthia must learn to cope with the hazards of sleep deprivation, judgmental relatives, and the skepticism of her pediatrician. This survival tale will resonate with all parents of exhausting babies.

Part II, Terrible Twos, Threes, Fours, Fives, Sixes...
Cynthia Crosse continues sharing her journey through parenthood of a difficult child. As she copes with ongoing sleep deprivation, judgmental advice, and her own breaking point, she learns hard truths about life. She says, "If you are parenting a challenging child, I hope that my story of survival will help you to realize that you are not alone."

Part III, Plunging Grades, Pot, Pills and Punk Rock
Her son's turbulent adolescent years, from church music to punk rock, from back yard parties to drinking binges, and from straight A's to failing grades, receive a thorough and unflinchingly honest review. She witnesses keen intelligence and musical gifts squandered, and describes the heartbreak of realizing that she can't protect him from his darkest peril--the consequences of his own poor decisions.

Part IV, Depression, Possession, Suspension, Graduation
Part IV recounts the heartache of parenting a teen whose issues include depression, alcohol and drug use, arrests, suspension from school, and failing grades. What do parents with limited resources do to help their troubled children? And how do they survive, themselves? Anguished parents know there are no easy answers to these questions.

Part V, Hold Fast to Dreams
Cynthia Crosse's difficult first baby is now 18 and has earned a high school diploma. But parenting doesn't stop at graduation. Sometimes the toughest challenges are still to come. Among them are difficulties with first love, a minimum-wage job, his15-year-old "police magnet" vehicle, a punk rock band experience gone sour, and two occasions on which his life was in jeopardy. But signs of blossoming kindness and maturity bring hope that after dark days, joy is just around the corner for a dearly-loved child. Parents of challenging children may find this painfully honest memoir inspires them to "hold fast to dreams."

Readers praise Parenting With Courage: A Mother's Survival Story
"Painfully beautiful writing. We can't help who our children are born to be, and we can't change the path they're born to follow."

"It is so easy for those who aren't involved to stand back and judge. I am impressed by your clarity and honesty in writing what must be heart-wrenching for you."

"What a very strange path, this parenting journey. I'm so grateful for your story. You light the way for other lost travelers."

"Your series has gracefully, and painfully, summed up the heart-ripping that starts the day they're born."

"This shows better than anything I have ever read just how powerful is a mother's love. Bless you."