I was raised with, at that moment in history, the world’s most perfect person but she was always very busy doing or learning a skill or subject. My mother took classes or read books on how to paint horses on my skirts, make strangely shaped stuffed animals, identifying birds, trees, and the life stories behind geological curiosities. She was usually too busy to be with so I never understood kids in books who discovered a treasure or world threatening problem and kept these adventures to themselves. I run yelling out, “Come see what I found!”. The family should have been part of the plot so as things got worse I could pick their brains and my solutions would impress THEM more than the reader.
I still treasure the few times my parents told my they admired my abilities, This didn’t happen often and they never stroked me with empty feel-goods, so this way I knew they meant what they said. I write about this working together as a family in most of my books, although the solutions Kathy has in Bearos, do not impress her busy mother and are obvious to children readers and very funny. See my books on Amazon.  nancymauerman.com