Close Kids

There are many, many parenting books available to us, covering many, many topics. Each of us, to varying degrees, have read some, believed in some, scoffed at some. In most, there are bits of wisdom to be gathered and applied.

I am, usually, not drawn in by the traditional topics of feeding, sleeping, disciplining, not because I don't worry about those things, but because the books seem to have a negative effect on my confidence levels. Instead of feeling educated and armed to address the issue, I find myself feeling even less adequate and more concerned about the repercussions of NOT succeeding.

So, it is no small thing for me to have discovered a parenting book that I really love. It is one that is easily read, easily digested, and easily put into action. Even better, it is a topic that is not commonly discussed, but is universally identified as something for which a parent strives.

Close Kids

Yes, this means having children who like each other, enjoy being with each other and grow up to be friends for life. As the book so wisely notes, siblings are the  family members likely to be in each other's lives, the longest.

Brett A. Johnson offers quick lists of "to do's" and examples from the grown-up-close-kids that he interviewed. Thankfully, this is not a guide that expects your three, five and seven-year-old-children to get along, all of the time. It's not a lecture in what you are doing wrong, but what you can do, now, to lay the groundwork for siblings who are friends.  This is a small paperback companion that can give our kids the long-term gift of closeness and a support system, beyond ourselves.

Excellent.