Review: Parenting Children with Health Issues: Essential Tools, Tips, and Tactics for Raising Kids With Chronic Illness, Medical Conditions, and Special Healthcare Needs by Foster W. Cline and Lisa Greene

When a child is diagnosed with a chronic illness, medical condition or other special healthcare needs, families are generally unprepared for the immediate consequences and lifestyle changes the new information brings. None of our children arrive with instruction manuals, but the new book from Foster Cline and Lisa Greene was written to partially fill the bookshelf gap for many families who hope to make both long term and day to day plans to raise all their children to be more resilient, responsible and self reliant young adults.

The authors present tools, tips and tactics based on basic Love & Logic strategies developed by Foster W. Cline, with insights and advice for parents whose children face significant health challenges. Lisa Greene is the mother of two children who have Cystic Fibrosis.

I appreciated the simple explanations, observations, and compassionate sensitivity shown in discussion of issues important to all family members, including the parents as a couple, the child with the diagnosis, brothers and sisters. This is a book I would especially recommend for parent groups and public libraries, medical professionals and support staff who are in the lives of families whose children are newly diagnosed. More than that, I would offer it as a lifeline and planning guide for those who have been struggling with the issues brought on by chronic health conditions or other significant healthcare needs for a long time. Whether parents have great support and resources already or they feel isolated and desperate, the discussion and strategies found in Parenting Children with Health Issues offer a fresh look at the future as well as the possibility of a more joyful day to day life.