The Last Parenting Book You’ll Ever Read: How We Let Our Kids Go and Embrace What’s Next

This sensitive guide from the Mom Hour podcaster Francis (The Happiest Mom) details how to navigate the transition to an empty nest. Drawing wisdom from her experiences as a mother of five (four of whom are now adults), Francis discusses her regrets over losing her temper at her kids and counsels readers to “forgive ourselves for the things we did, or didn’t do.” She encourages parents to adopt a more hands-off approach as children enter adulthood, suggesting that “the things our kids needed from us five or ten or fifteen years ago aren’t necessarily the same things they need now.” Urging readers to embrace alone time, she describes how after divorcing her first husband in her early 40s, she rediscovered the joys of solitude on a solo backpacking trip through the Michigan wilderness. Elsewhere, she entreats moms to let themselves grieve their childbearing years during perimenopause and discusses how she took up making cheese and yogurt to continue feeling creatively “fertile.” What the advice lacks in specifics it makes up for in empathy. The result is a supportive companion for managing a difficult life stage. Agent: Kerry Sparks, Levine Greenberg Rostan. (May)