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Back to topWhy Are You So Scared?: A Child's Book about Parents with Ptsd (Hardcover)
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Out of Print
Description
When a parent has PTSD, children can often feel confused, scared, or helpless. Why Are You So Scared? explains PTSD and its symptoms in nonthreatening, kid-friendly language, and is full of questions and exercises that kids and parents can work through together.
The interactive layout encourages kids to express their thoughts and feelings about PTSD through writing, drawing, and designing. This book can serve as a practical tool for kids to cope with and eventually feel better about their parent's PTSD.
A comprehensive note to parents offers advice for using this book to help children communicate the emotions that may accompany their parent's PTSD recovery.
From the Note to Parents: PTSD can negatively affect the children of parents or caregivers who experience it. In addition to being confused and worried about their parent or caregiver, children may experience fear and sadness of their own. A negatively affected child may suffer poor performance at school, act out at daycare, or withdrawal from family and friends. PTSD is not just a condition of the adult, but a condition of the family and others close to the child. There are several important aspects of their parent or caregiver's PTSD that children should understand. Although your child's age and maturity level, and your own comfort level, should dictate how much emphasis you give any particular issue, it's important that each of the following be acknowledged, at least to plant a seed for future discussion. This book, and the discussions it is meant to facilitate, should help your child:- understand what PTSD is and what it is not;
- recognize and cope with his or her feelings; and
- realize that things will get better and that help is available.
About the Author
Beth Andrews is a licensed clinical social worker, program supervisor for a community mental health center in Colorado, and college instructor. She is the author of several self-help books for children, including Why Are You So Scared? A Child's Book about Parents with PTSD, Why Are You So Sad? A Child's Book About Parental Depression and I Miss You! A Military Kid's Book About Deployment. Katherine Kirkland is an illustrator living in the Gloucestershire countryside in England with her husband and son. Katherine illustrates greeting cards and children's books, including Why Are You So Scared? A Child's Book about Parents with PTSD. Follow her on Facebook: @katherinesillustration and Twitter: @KK_scribbler.