O’Neill’s `Here’s Looking at You, Kids,’ an excellent book

HERE’S LOOKING AT YOU, KIDS, by Hugh O’Neill, Prentice Hall, 207 pages, $17.95.

He calls himself the prophet of parenting. He shares the highs and lows of child rearing with each of his readers, and he emerges as comedian, philosopher, and just plain dad.

I first met author Hugh O’Neill by accident over the telephone four years ago when his first book, “Daddy Cool,” hit the bookshelves. The delightful hour I spent on the phone with a man who dearly loves his work convinced me that if anyone could convey the real sentiments of raising kids today, it was this guy.

O’Neill’s latest offering, “Here’s Looking At You, Kids,” is a sequel of sorts, for it picks up the story of parenting where “Daddy Cool” left off: somewhere on every man’s vacation, heading home with a spouse and offspring sound asleep around him.

We know the feeling. After a long day of battling traffic, sibling rivalries and food fights, things finally settle down and mom or dad get to watch the products of their love succumb to the toil of being kids and, thankfully, gratefully, the brood falls asleep.

O’Neill loves life, but he has a special affection for having a significant role in determining the outcome of two other lives as well, those of daughter Rebecca and son Josh. In his mind, he and his wife, Jody, have sacred tasks, for the environment of love may never be overshadowed by selfish motives. His children will become what they have seen. In humorously serious fashion, the author conveys the weight of that message.

Readers will revel in the family trip to the amusement park, an annual journey so many have taken with the joy of anticipation, the horror of the event itself, and the warm afterglow of survival.

Christmas Eve tales of parental pride in playing Santa, while assembling toys that are usually not capable of being assembled, will take parents back to the days when their own children slept in blissful anticipation of the day ahead, while mommy and daddy toiled in frustration throughout the night.

O’Neill has a knack and a gift, a knack to recall the details of bringing up young children, and a gift at retelling each episode with the precision and humorous detail that even the people at Kodak cannot master.

You will love this book. You will love it if you have kids now and live daily the wonderful life of rearing little sponges who dangerously soak up every word as gospel as they follow you throughout the day.

You will laugh with Hugh O’Neill, for you have been there as your own children perform a repeat of a play or television episode in full costume, and you, the audience, can hardly believe that these kids — your kids — are capable of such thespian heights at such early ages.

You will worry, too. (Isn’t that the most difficult part ot the job?) O’Neill touches every nerve in our being throughout the chapter. It isn’t always an easy task, this parenting.

In two books, author Hugh O’Neill has established himself as the Dr. Spock of non-medical child rearing. As his children continue to grow, so will his tales. Each episode becomes a lesson for readers, and his gift for writing, combined with his gift for parenting, helps make our own monumental task of bringing up kids in today’s world a lot easier.

Ron Brown is a free-lance writer who resides in Bangor.