The Divorcing Father’s Manual: 8 Steps to Help You and Your Children Survive and Thrive

Barry B. Frieman
Men’s Studies Press (2005)
ISBN 1931342024
Reviewed by William Phenn for Reader Views (3/06)

“The Divorcing Father’s Manual” is the latest work by Dr. Barry B. Frieman Ed.D. Dr. Frieman has been an Educator for over 34 years teaching graduate and undergraduate classes. He is currently both a university professor and a licensed clinical social worker. In the course of his social work, Dr. Frieman has dealt with many families going through the turmoil of divorce. Among his many prestigious credentials is his doctorate from the Institute for Child Study at the University of Maryland. Dr. Frieman himself is married with two grown daughters. He has spent most of his working life dealing with children and divorce.

“The Divorcing Father’s Manual: 8 Steps to Help You Survive and Thrive” does not have all the answers within its 181 pages, just the important ones. This book will help you through the eight most important areas of divorce.

  1. Surviving the Initial Assault. How to survive when she walks out. What to do about the guilt, pain and stress, when your wife of many years tells you she wants a divorce.
  2. Disengaging From Your Old Love. Here Barry tells you how to let go of the dream. Action steps to starting a new life.
  3. Working for a Nonadversarial Divorce. This step describes the process, advantages and disadvantages of a nonadversarial divorce.
  4. Assessing Your Role as Father and Making a Fathering Plan. Single Father, what do you have to expect? What kind of Father were you when married, what about your father? These are just some of the questions Dr. Frieman asks in the FatherŐs Inventory.
  5. Understanding Children. What do you say when your preschool child says, mommies boyfriend is nicer than you.
  6. Doing It All Alone. In this step, Dr. Frieman discusses what your duties are as a single father; cooking, sewing, braiding little girlŐs hair or getting ready for school.
  7. Your Ex-Wife. The business like relationship you should have, how to defuse feelings and learning to interact with your Ex.
  8. Starting a Dating Life. Are you ready, meeting people, involving children with the women you are dating, this very important step and many more are discussed here.

My hat is off to Dr. Barry Frieman. He has managed to write a very comprehensive and adult manual for getting through one of the most difficult periods in a man’s life. “The Divorcing Father’s Manual” is both informative and very entertaining. It is a must read for all Fathers that are either in the process of divorce or have already been through it. I give it my highest rating, an A+.

Make comment on weblog