Love Our Children
Kathy Coatney
March 30, 2023
I’ve been looking at the national holidays and every month there are hundreds of them. One in particular caught my eye—National Love Our Children Day, the first Saturday in April. This is a really important day for me as a parent and writer.
Far too many children leave childhood feeling unloved and unwanted. In my opinion, having even one child feel this way is one too many. Every child should feel loved and wanted.
Many children don’t have strong male role models in their lives to guide them, but I believe it is such an important part of child development.
My views have followed me into my writing. The children who don’t have a strong male role model at the start of my book will find one or more by the time the book is complete. There will of course be bumps along the way throughout the book, but there are always loving adults there to guide them to adulthood.
I can’t ensure every child in real life has a loving, fulfilling childhood, but I can do this with my writing by creating a fictional world where children always have a caring adult in their corner.
Even if just one child has a better life because someone read my book or acted as a result of National Love Our Children Day, I consider that a huge success. We don’t live in a perfect world, but it doesn’t stop me from believing one simple act of kindness and love could change a child’s whole world.
And that could snowball from one child, to two or three children or more. My hope is we save one child at a time whether it’s through a book, or by our actions, and build a better world.
I’m currently working on my latest book Falling in Love With Her , book 5 in the Falling in Love—The Murphy Clan series. It’s a second chance, left at the altar, love story about Ingie Pulaski, owner of Three Rivers Guide Shop and Boat Repair, and Ian Callahan, a firefighter and arson investigator. Ingie has a crazy-eyed cat named Taz, short for Tasmanian Devil, and Ian has a sweet lab named Riffle, that’s a retired accelerant dog.
Taz was a feisty kitten we owned a few decades back, and he was one of those pets you just never forget. Riffle was my son’s dog who died last year of old age. She was the sweetest animal on the planet, and she deserved to be remembered in this story.
I don’t have a lot of children in this book, but as I write this blog, I have a strong sense that I need to bring, Becca O’Leary, a teenager and part of the Trench Coat Brigade, into the story. Maybe she’ll have a troubled friend in need of love and guidance from the adults around her. I haven’t decided yet, but I’d sure like to incorporate it into the story.
This book is another romantic mystery with many of the same characters as book 4, Falling in Love With Him. The Trench Coat Brigade will be returning along with a murder and arson, and of course a love story with a happily ever after. Join my newsletter to keep up on my next book. While you’re waiting for book 5, check out book 4, Falling in Love With Him.
Is there an adult who made a difference in your life? I’d love to hear your story.
Thank you so much for stopping by today. I think this is such an important topic, and I hope you’ll join me in making a difference by reaching out to a child in your life. Let them know how important they are to you on this day of all days.
Kathy Coatney has spent long hours behind the lens of a camera, wading through cow manure, rice paddies and orchards over her twenty-year career as a photojournalist specializing in agriculture. Kathy also loves—and writes—deeply emotional, small-town contemporary romance. Ironically, her books carry an agriculture thread in them, some more than others. Please note Kathy used to write these books under Kate Curran, but now writes all her books under Kathy Coatney. Kathy also writes a series of nonfiction children’s books, From the Farm to the Table and Dad’s Girls. You can learn more about Kathy at her website.
