Greetings all, I hope this note finds you having a blast doing something!!

I was on an airplane to Dallas the other day and found one of the best articles on fun stuff to do with your kids that I’ve ever seen.  The entire article can be see here but I will tell you about some of my favorites.

Do Lunch at School – That is pretty cool and simple.  Just pick a day and either bring lunch to school and have lunch with them or take them out to a nearby shop.

Vote – With the upcoming election, you can take your child/ren into the voting booth with you and show them what being an American is all about.

Make your own taffy – Sounds fun and I think we will give it a try.  The complete directions are at exploratorium.edu.

“Go guerrilla” – Which means do a random act of kindness.  We have a huge rose bush in the front yard and plan on cutting the first blooms and putting them in our neighbor’s mail boxes.  My girls can’t wait, they are looking at the bush every day wondering why it takes so long for flowers to come out.

These are just a few for now and I’m sure there will be more coming in the future.  Thank you to Jessica Bridges and Southwest Airlines for publishing such a neat story.

All my best,

Brett A Johnston
closekids.com

Greetings everyone.  Since having children doing charitable work with the family is a big thing for me, I want to share a book I found with you.  Sometimes it is hard to find age appropriate ways for children to help others.  That is where The Kid’s Guide to Service Projects: Over 500 Service Ideas for Young People Who Want to Make a Difference comes in (quite a title isn’t it?).

This book is full of easy and fun ideas for our kids to get involved in the community and learn what helping others is all about!  For those of you not interested in a book, reach out to your local Habitat for Humanity.  They also have projects aimed at getting young people involved.  No matter which direction you go, the weather is turning right to get outside and make a difference in someone’s life! 

Hope you liked these quick ideas, see you next time!

My very best,
Brett A Johnston

Hello all I hope this note finds you well.  First a quick Close Kids Forever book update.  It looks like we are in final edit and hoping to get a galley (last printed copy before going to press) soon.  It never seems to be fast enough for a writer.

Have you ever wondered if some severe family trauma will bring your kids together or separate them?  During my research, I discovered it can do either.  A death in the family, parent’s divorce or separation can make kids closer to each other and it can wedge them apart forever.  The significance of this finding is that parents and their parenting skills still have a say in whether or not the kids grow up to be friends.  They are not destined to become separated, so never give up.

Hang in there through hard times and make sure to “bunker down” with your family and fight for them.  The data clearly suggests it will help them and you!

My very best,

Brett A Johnston
www.closekids.com

Hello and greetings on the day before the night before Christmas! If you are like me, you constantly remind your children to be “grateful” for what they have. But until this week, I knew they didn’t really understand what I meant. So, what happened this week? They did their first real charity work for some underprivileged kids!

They not only gathered and paid for some toys, they actually got to deliver them. It was an absolute blast. We saw where they lived, watched them open their gifts and had breakfast with a few of them. Being in their world certainly made a difference in ours this season. My oldest certainly got more out of it than the younger ones from a learning perspective, but I guess we have to start somewhere with all of them. Even the smallest still had fun.

It reminded me of a famous businessman, Robert G Allen, when he was learning to be successful. He said most people wanted to tell him how to “find gold”. Which really means “be a success” in business. But he wasn’t looking for someone to tell him how to mine gold, he wanted someone to take him to the gold!

I hope we took the kids where the real gold was this Christmas. In the joyous eyes of others.

My very best this Holiday Season!

Brett A Johnston
www.closekids.com

Hello all. Had a thought last night over dinner.

What if when we did something for one of our children and then let another take the credit for it?  Maybe an example would make my point better.  Just last night, my wife and I made some cookies.  We called in our oldest to help us serve her sisters.  When she did, both of them thanked her profusely and gave her a hug.  The fact that we made them never even entered their mind (a point neither of us minded in the least).

To them, the cookies came from Big Sister.  The smallest one even offered Big Sis her blankie to hold for a while.  THAT is a big deal around here.  Any way, I just thought it was a great way to help them learn to do things for each other.

As always, feel free to leave your ideas and comments!

My very best,

Brett A Johnston
www.closekids.com

In an effort to change our little one’s souls from their current state to a more giving one, I wanted to share some information on 7 year old Zach Bonner from Florida.  Zach has been in the news recently for walking 280 miles to generate money for homeless youth in his community.  He raised around $25,000 for his troubles.

What is important for you and I to remember is he didn’t start with this big event.  He started small, with a little red wagon collecting food and water for hurricane victims.  He now volunteers about 400 hours a year.  His time includes volunteering at a guide dog school and helping out at a local hospital (something advocated in the upcoming book Close Kids Forever).

Let’s try and start small with something this Holiday Season.  The suggestion on the CloseKids.com site is an easy way to get it going.  As always, please share your ideas for helping children get involved with charity work through the “Comments” tab on this web site.

My very best,

Brett A Johnston

Greetings fellow Holiday shoppers.  CloseKids.com has come up with some great toys designed to get kids playing together this year.  A toy is placed on our list that does a few simple things.  First, it has to be fun.  Second, it needs more than one person to play with it.  And third, it requires those participants to interact and grow their relationship.

Here is the list of inexpensive and fun toys for this Holiday Season (just click on the name for more information).  Please feel freg Game e to add your ideas to the “Comment” section below and share with the community.

Great Walkie Talkies - These inexpensive two-way radios allow hours of communication fun for your kids at a reasonable price (about 35 bucks).

Frisbees! - That is right.  The age old classic is still a classic for this Holiday season.  By nature, they really need two or more people to play with them, they get kids outside and they are a blast.

Air Hogs Helicopters Laser Tag Game- Wow is this cool or what.  Remote control helicopters that really fly and shoot lasers at each other.  The first one hit crashes to the ground (safely) and the game starts again.  This toy meets all our criteria and is a “FamilyFun” Top Toy of the Year!

I hope this list give you a head start in your holiday shopping and helps YOUR children stay and play close to each other.  As always, please share your ideas below.

See you next time.

Brett A Johnston
www.closekids.com

Hello all, this page is about one thing…children. More specifically your children. ALL your children and their relationship to each other. Have you wondered why some brothers and sisters grow up and stay very close to each other as adults?

So did I. My wife and I have three children.We want them to enjoy a wonderful, life-long relationship together! The simple story of this site is we went out to find an answer to one question. What could we do as parents while the kids were young so they would grow up and be best friends as adults? What we found out was the information didn’t exist. So I decided to research the subject myself. After nearly two years of gathering data and talking to hundreds of siblings, I pulled together my findings in the upcoming book - Close Kids Forever!

Join me each month on this blog as I look at new and exciting ways to connect you children today so they will not only grow together, but their very souls will be changed as well (I can’t wait to tell you what this means). There were many great discoveries that will change some things about how you parent your children! And I’m very interested in hearing your thoughts as well. Here is to our relationship together.

My very best,
Brett A Johnston
Author
Close Kids Forever
www.closekids.com