Living Life as Parent-Partners

This book was written to help parents, and parents-to-be, ensure that they have the type of relationship with the other parent that can maximize their child's well-being. Regardless of whether parents are married or unmarried, in a romantic relationship or not, children need their parents to have a great parental relationship. The "parent-partner" concept is a new approach for conceptualizing the relationship between parents with a child in common. The book contains twenty steps that people can follow to live life fully as parent-partners.

This book contains information about why living life as good parent-partners is best for a couple's child. It also gives practical tips for living life in a way that is consistent with the values underlying the parent-partner concept. This book concludes with some ideas for how the reader might help the parent-partner concept catch on so that all children might have the advantage of parents who act like parent-partners.

The book is appropriate for expectant parents, new parents, and parents in the middle or at the end of their romantic relationships with the other parent. It will also guide people who are thinking about becoming parents. Friends and family who want to help new parents thrive should also find this book to be a useful resource. It would also be a useful resource for young adults who are becoming sexually active.

This book is a companion to the author's other new title, A Parent-Partner Status for American Family Law, published by Cambridge University Press in 2015. That book focuses on law, theory, and social change. This book, in contrast, is written to inform a general audience about the "parent-partner" concept. It is a "how-to" guide and is designed for people who want to follow the philosophy of the parent-partner status on a personal level, regardless of whether legal or social change ever occurs.

The book is part of a movement to create a new "parent-partner" social role. To popularize the idea, "parent-partner" gear, including t-shirts, tattoos, and baby clothes, can be found on the author's Web site at www.parent-partners.com. An eBook is also available through eBook distributors.

Merle H. Weiner is the Philip H. Knight Professor of Law at the University of Oregon School of Law. She is the author of A Parent-Partner Status for American Family Law (Cambridge University Press 2015). Professor Weiner is a graduate of Dartmouth College (B.A.), Harvard Law School (J.D.), and Cambridge University (LL.M.). She has been a parent-partner with Tom Lininger for the last eighteen years. They have two children.