Taking a sometimes unconventional view of parent-child and family matters, this book contends that the facts of family living do matter--but not to the all-or-nothing degree advocated by some experts. The book disputes many well established beliefs about the importance of family life and maintains that as the sacredness of family relationships is decreased, pressures are relieved. The chapters highlight domestic matters in the form of misunderstandings that interfere with family relationships and what can be done to better cope with such difficult happenings. The chapters are: (1) "Forty-One Irrational Beliefs of Family Living, with Rational Counters and Commentary"; (2) "Examining Your Child's AQ (Appreciation Quotient); (3) "The Role Model Fallacy"; (4) ""Communicating Better and Getting along Worse"; (5) "The Mistake of Linking Favorable Regard for Your Child to Human Worth"; (6) "Never Deprive a Child of the Right To Go Without"; (7) "When Children Double Bind Their Parents"; (8) "Fifteen Unmannerly Actions that Represent Responsible Parenting"; (9) "Minding Less When Your Child Doesn't Mind"; (10) "The Merits of Extracting Emotional Dependency from the Parental Equation"; (11) "With Kids Like That, You Don't Need Enemies"; (12) "Guaranteeing Your Child Opportunity without a Guarantee of Success"; (13) "Why Treat Children the Same When They Are All Different? Individualism Reconsidered"; (14) "Aspire and Inspire: Do It Yourself, Hire Someone Else To Do It, Forbid Your Child To Do It"; (15) "Implications of Fraudulently Living Your Life through Your Child"; (16) "Doing 'To' Your Child vs. Failing to Accept What Can't Be Done 'for' the Child"; (17) "Is Behavior Gone Unnoticed Really Less Likely To Occur?"; (18) "Nature vs. Nurture in Children"; (19) "Loyalty, Love, Obligation, and (Dis)Agreement in Family Relationships"; (20) "Having a Sense of Humor in Proportion to What Ails You as a Parent; (21) "Questioning the Advisability of Unconditional Parental Love"; (22) "Thirty-Four Guidelines for Effective and Efficient Parenting"; (23) "The Ugly Duckling Syndrome"; (24) "When Baby Makes Three: Children as Intrusion"; (25) "Being Able to Order Parents on a Silver Platter"; (26) "Learning Manners from Those Who Have Few"; (27) "Working Yourself Out of a Job While Retaining Its Joys"; (28) Protecting Yourself from the Oppositional-Acting Child"; (29) "The Only Golden Rule of Parenting"; and (30) Wiles of My Own Parenting to Date." An index is included. (HTH)