The Bubbles Float Over the Stars by Jeffrey Kagan

When my four year old grandchild blows bubbles, she says she thinks the bubbles float over the stars. I ask her what she means, and she says she thinks the bubbles float very high. I ask if they float as high as the stars, and she says they float over the stars. She feels profoundly heard, and this is a gift that I as her grandmother can give her.

In July 2006 Jeffrey Kagan’s mother died. In December his niece matriculated. Kagan began to wonder what his mother would have wanted to say to her grandchild on such an occasion had she been alive. These ponderings led to the production of this remarkable book. Kagan, a practising psychologist, converses with forty grandparents and records what they have to say about relationships with their grandchildren. What can they teach the new generation about living in our troubled world? What, as their own lifetimes draw to a close, do they see as important attributes for successful and fulfilling lives in the 21^st century? The answers that emerge are varied, but taken together they provide a remarkably consistent picture of humanity in its most generous and nurturing guise. Families who use this book as a basis for thought and discussion will be enriched.

Jeffrey Kagan is a healthcare practitioner, specialising as a Psychologist in Parkhurst, Johannesburg.