Prodigal Father : Reuniting Fathers and Their Children - Softcover

Bryan, Mark A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0609802038 ISBN 13: 9780609802038

Publisher: Three Rivers Pr, 1998

Synopsis

A handbook to help estranged fathers reconnect with their children examines both the estrangement process and the path to reunion, explaining how to rebuild self-esteem, renew a relationship with the child's mother, and create lasting bonds. Reprint. 20,000 first printing.

About this title

About the Author

Mark Bryan has been a teacher and writer for over a decade, and is a nationally known speaker in the human potential movement.  He is the cofounder (with Julia Cameron) of  The Artist's Way. His experience both in developing extremely effective self-help techniques for The Artist's Way and as a reunited father led him to create this program to help estranged fathers.

Bryan received his masters in family education from Harvard University and is Director of The Father Project, affiliated with the Harvard Project on Women's Psychology, Boys Development and the Culture of Manhood.  He is currently researching The Artist's Way for Work.  Mark Bryan lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.


From the Hardcover edition.

From the Inside Flap

Prodigal Father, Mark Bryan addresses this important social issue by offering a proven program to help fathers assume a vital role in their children's lives. "Through my work and my own experience as an absent father, I've come to realize that what we call 'deadbeat dads' are actually broken-hearted dads," says Bryan. "Living in shame and denial about the pain of their loss (even when they were the ones who decided to give up their kids), these men feel hopeless and overwhelmed at the thought of attempting a reunion."

Mark Bryan knows the problems of men who are divorced and don't see their kids as often as they would like, as well as those of the men who have totally lost touch with their children. He knows the guilt and shame they feel, the pangs at holiday times, the wrench when a father is alone and sees other fathers playing with their kids, taking them to school, waiting with them in the line at McDonald's. He knows how fathers wonder how they got "o

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Mark Bryan's Own Story:

"I am a gratefully reunited father," Bryan says. "I remember vividly the fear and confusion I felt when Betsy told me she was pregnant. We were both sixteen, juniors in high school. I wanted to do the right thing, 'be a man.' We married, Scott was born, and we tried to be the happy family we told people we were. But, living in the basement of my parents' house, working days, studying nights, our marriage soon fell apart. When Scott was eighteen months old, Betsy and Scott moved back home to Virginia. I made the 300-mile trip as often as I could, but visiting them became more and more difficult. When Betsy told me she had a new boyfriend and a new life, that I couldn't see Scott anymore, I was devastated. While we talked in the garage, John, ten years our senior, waited in the kitchen to lend her his support. I wanted to argue the injustice of her decision, but John was an intimidating presence. I was tongue-tied and intimidated. Though I don't know if she actually said it, all I could hear that day was that I did not deserve this son any longer. That Scott was better off without me in his life. Too confused to challenge Betsy morally, let alone legally, I got into the car and headed back to Ohio.
        
I can see now the impact that confrontation had on my life. It started for me a downward spiral that became a descent into hell. For over a decade, I drifted in and out of college, in and out of jobs, in and out of depression, alcohol and drug abuse. When I was thirty, I finally sought professional help and turned my life around, facing the fact that my most important loss was my connection with my son. I devoted myself to "becoming the man I would want my son to meet."

Edition details

• Publisher: Three Rivers Pr
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0609802038
• ISBN 13: 9780609802038
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 278