I just finished Love That Boy: What Two Presidents, Eight Road Trips and My Son Taught Me About a Parent’s Expectations, by Ron Fournier, and have found myself recommending this book to a number of people.
The author is a past White House correspondent with three children. Ron Fournier and his son take off on a series of father/son journeys that Fournier deliberately refers to as “guilt trips.”
Ron Fournier is a parent, like many of us, with conscious and sometimes unconscious expectations of his children; this was particularly daunting to the author regarding his son, who didn’t fit the typical mold regarding athletics and social skills due to him having Asperger’s Syndrome. This book is an honest and raw journey of a parent learning to adjust expectations and parenting to fit his children.
More than anything, this is a book on parenting; not on parenting a child with Asperger’s Syndrome. It’s about cherishing and supporting our children as the unique individuals they are, and not mixing things up by adding in our expectations and/or missed opportunities. As a parent, I found myself having both uncomfortable as well as comforting feelings and reactions as I read the book. It is rich with wisdom.
-Contributed by Lisa G.