Dancing with a Porcupine: Parenting wounded children without losing your self

Parenting is hard. So what do you do when you’re parenting a child who has experienced trauma or has extra challenges? You often feel alone and inadequate. You want so much to help your child, but you are at the end of your own rope. You feel guilty that sometimes you want to just quit. What can you do — how can you make it through the day — how can you help your child while also taking care of yourself? Maybe someone you love is parenting a traumatized child. Or perhaps you are a social worker, counselor, or other professional who sees families like these every day. You want to know how to better help them.In Dancing with a Porcupine, Jennie Owens shares with humor and raw honesty the compelling story of her struggle to save her own life while caring for three children she and her husband adopted from foster care. How could she stay loving, giving, and forgiving in the midst of a daily battle with children acting out the rage, resentment, and pain of their own traumatic pasts? When faith, endurance, and creativity are not enough, what’s next?Jennie's children, who are now adults, have bravely chosen to have their stories told in the hopes that it can help other children who've experienced trauma. To quote Parker, one of the Owens' children, "I want my story to be told if it will help other kids."