If there’s one thing about me, it’s that I love a good childrens book. Coming into our home and looking at our shelves, you would think that we have children! Since my vision of my life has moved from becoming a mother to living childfree, my childrens book collection has become super focused on teaching lessons so I can use them when I work as a pediatric Occupational Therapist!
A big focus right now for me is being able to teach children not only about their diagnosis and how to cope with things they are going through, but using a strengths based approach so they can see their potential for a wonderful life. That’s one of the reasons I was SO excited to find this book!
The other day I popped by the book store mainly to get a coffee from their coffee shop, and I came across “The Big Worry Day”. The illustrations captured me instantly and when I opened the front cover I knew I immediately had to buy it! This book is about a little girl and her dog who is her best friend. Throughout the story she is trying to figure out ways to help her dog with her anxiety (spoiler, of course she is also struggling with anxiety) and she realizes that when her strategies aren’t helping she has to figure out what else they can do to feel safe! One of the things that stood out to me instantly was the page that shared that there was anxiety happening even though all they had to do today was go outside and play. Often times families forget that just because a child doesn’t have adult responsibilities like work, bill and taking care of a household, doesn’t mean they can’t have general anxiety about the world! It was nice a pleasant surprise to see that recognized in a book!
The thing that absolutely sold me on buying the book for my clients was seeing the information about the author. K.A. Reynolds shares that she is autistic with anxiety, and the ability for me to read a book with an autistic and/or anxious child and then share that the author has similar experiences to them is HUGE. During World Autism day, I had my adult group do presentations about famous people with autism, and seeing them light up learning that the man that created Pokemon has autism was eye opening for me! Being able to see that you are more than a diagnosis, that there are people who have the same challenges and life experiences as you and that there are people who are using their strengths to do amazing things for the world is everything to my clients!
After giving this a read when I got home I had to write about this book on my blog to share with others because I feel like this was such an important read and I am so excited to add it to my Occupational Therapy book collection !
If you have any kids books or OT related books that you recommend please share in the comments! I am always looking for more!
Be Your Own Sunshine 