REVIEW OF A. KRAVTSOVA’S BOOK “MOM, LET’S BRING HIM TO THE STORK! OR HELPING A CHILD MAKE FRIENDS WITH A BROTHER OR SISTER”

Abstract

Anna Kravtsova’s book “Mom, Let’s Bring Him to the Stork! or Helping a Child Make Friends with a Brother or Sister” presents a unique psychological journey of modern children into their own families and immersion in child-parent relationships. The presented book review reveals the psychological features of children's jealousy, which are born and developed in the situation of the appearance of a second child. The author of the book notes that the formation of children's ability to communicate their own style not only with their parents but also with their brothers and sisters affects the manifestation of both positive and negative emotions. This book definitely contributes to parents' better understanding of their children's personality traits and also helps modern parents learn to uncover family conflicts and find ways to resolve them. The author briefly describes the content of each of the nine chapters, from the moment when "The family is waiting for another child" (the first chapter) to "Child's jealousy and children's creativity" (the ninth chapter) and points out the difficulties faced by parents and children at each of these stages. In each chapter, Anna Kravtsova examines the relevance of child psychoanalysis to attachment theory and developmental psychology. Finally, the conclusion is formulated that children's jealousy is a complex human feeling observed not only in adult relationships but also in parent-child relationships. The book is very interesting due to its complexity and variety of presented styles and approaches: from deep scientific analysis to bright citations and children's poems; conversations with mothers of children of different ages experiencing jealousy; from strong feelings in case descriptions to logical conclusions and generalizations of psychological and psychoanalytic theories and concepts. The chapters of the book represent an interweaved system of ideas, thoughts, and scientific and life experiences of the author, interacting and complementing each other.