ABSTRACT
As we come to the end of this volume, we cycle back around to the editors’ goals for the book-understanding the interaction of parents and children both inside and outside of the family home, zeroing in on the latter. The various authors in this volume have written about the communication of parents and children as they interact with and within different systems, for example, childcare, medicine, sports, education, workplace, media, and technology. The chapters in this fi nal section of the book converge to remind us that parentchild communication also occurs in other than what might be thought of as “traditional” families. The three chapters focus on parent and child interaction in later life as “boomerang” children return home, in stepfamilies, and in foster care with gay and lesbian parents.
