Susan Abel Lieberman, author of The Mother-in-Law’s Manual: Proven Strategies for Creating and Maintaining Healthy Relationships with Married Children, said her book has helped her as much as it has helped others.
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If you go
What: The Woman to Woman dinner of the Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Mercer County
When: Tuesday, Sept. 22, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Hyatt Regency Princeton
Cost: $54
Information and RSVP: Call Patti at JFCS at 609-987-8100
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September 7, 2009
Mother-in-law jokes have been standard fare for comedians for decades, but taking on this important lifecycle role is no laughing matter.
Dr. Susan Abel Lieberman discovered this as her own children grew up and got married.
“I thought I was a good mother-in-law,” she said. “My daughter-in-law thought differently. When I talked to other women, I realized it was a dirty little secret. There were a lot of us.”
That resulted in her writing The Mother-in-Law’s Manual: Proven Strategies for Creating and Maintaining Healthy Relationships with Married Children.
She calls it “a book I needed to read and couldn’t find.”
Lieberman will share her insights Tuesday, Sept. 22, at the Woman to Woman Dinner of the Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Mercer County.
“We’re a family service so we’re obviously interested in family relationships,” said JFCS executive director Linda Meisel. “Having been a mother-in-law three times, I thought it was a topic a lot of women would be interested in.”
Meisel described the dinner as a “friend-raiser,” rather than a fund-raiser, because of its minimal cost. “We’re calling it a woman-to-woman dinner because I think women support other women through lifecycle and family changes.
“And, obviously, all mothers-in-law are women.”
Back-stoop wisdom
Lieberman is the author of six books, including New Traditions: Redefining Celebrations for Today’s Family and others on such subjects as how to get children through high school, a guide to summer activities for children, and how mothers and daughters can talk about sex.
In a phone interview from her Houston home, Lieberman pointed out she’s not a trained psychologist — her doctorate is in public policy.
“I didn’t write this as an expert — Dr. Lieberman, psychologist, talking to the masses,” she explained, “but as a bright, capable woman who was struggling. It’s as if we’re all sitting on the back stoop sharing this wisdom.”
Lieberman said the book has helped her as much as it has helped others deal with the mother-in-law role.
“I can tell you the book is good not because I wrote it, but because of the responses it has evoked, responses beyond anything I’ve gotten from any of the other books I’ve written,” said Lieberman. “It taps into something in people’s feelings. I’m a better mother-in-law than before I wrote the book. It didn’t make me perfect, but I’m better. I handle things with a little more wisdom.”
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