Creative Caring : What to Do When Someone is Sick, Lonely, Stressed Out or Just Having a Bad Day

We all know a small gesture can make an enormous difference in personal relationships.

Even so, in good times or bad, many of us struggle to find just the right way to show our friends and family that we are thinking of them.Why is it so difficult?

According to the authors, "creative caring experts" Beth Kitzinger and Linda Davies Rockey, showing someone we care is not necessarily a skill with which we are born.

If we were lucky enough to have a parent who was adept at expressing his or her love, those skills were passed along to us.

If not, we must learn them in order to get the most out of our relationships."Creative Caring" is a first step toward learning how to support the important people in our lives.

Each section begins with a story followed by ideas for caring for someone in the situation detailed by the story.

The stories range from specific problems such as supporting someone with a debilitating disease, or through a cross-country move, to more general circumstances, such as supporting a teenager and his or her family, a mother with a newborn, or someone in a troubled relationship.

Together the stories and suggestions create a collage of caring and help readers create their own personal style of showing that they care.