Book excerpt: Raising grandchildren can be challenging for many reasons. Often, the children have experienced complicated family dynamics, heartbreaking loss, abuse, and neglect - all of which may affect their emotions, behavior, and development. In Courageous Love, author Laura Montané Bailey draws on both professional and personal experience to offer grandparents the hero status they deserve and the encouragement they need, to continue to fight for the lives of the grandchildren they love. This book explores the devastating impact of trauma to brain development and function, and provides instructions for helping grandchildren to experience Post Traumatic Growth rather than Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Bailey presents the idea of the Healing Circles to provide what traumatized children need most: - Safety, basic needs, and structure - Family gatherings that create identity and foster a sense of belonging - Clear rules, authority agreements and non-toxic relationships These Healing Circles provide a protective structure that becomes the container for joy, empathy, and love, a powerful combination for delivering hope and healing to children of trauma. Bailey discusses the three key responsibilities of raising grandchildren in a high tech, high stress, unpredictable world: take care of yourself, un-break the hearts of your grandchildren, and re-wire their brains for success. Presenting easy-to-understand solutions, Courageous Love gives grandparents the tools and confidence they need to run this parenting marathon.