Family changes can affect children in a variety of ways. The Dealing with Feelings section of my website might also be helpful. Below are resources specific to changes like divorce, illnesses, moving and military deployment. Reach out if you need more information: catherinet@mystma.org
Regarding divorce and separation: Our school counselor, Sadie Snodgrass (sadies@mystma.org), offers family change groups at school. Some students like to keep family and school separate. They'd rather not think about family issues at school, keeping their focus on friends and academics. If your child doesn't want to talk about family issues at school, you could contact an outside counselor or therapist using this resource list. .
Books on Divorce & Separation:
"Dinosaurs Divorce" by Marc Brown
"I Don't Want to Talk About It" by Jeannie Ransom
"When a Mom and Dad Separate" by Marge Heegaard
"Emily's Blue Period" by Cathleen Daly
"When a Parent Marries Again" by Marge Heegaard
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Below are some resources to help children deal with serious illnesses. Please let me know if you have additional resources that are helpful. I have a separate section on grief to help children deal with death.
Books regarding illnesses:
"When Someone has a Very Serious Illness" by Marge Heegaard
"Our Mom has Cancer" by Abigail & Adrienne Ackermann
"You Are the Best Medicine" by Julie Aigner Clark (about breast cancer)
"The Hope Tree: kids talk about breast cancer" by Laura Numeroff and Wendy Harpham, M.D.
Website:
http://campkesem.org/ Coordinates camp experiences for kids who have a parent who died from or is currently battling cancer.
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Families moving is another change. I have a workbook and some additional information on helping children adjust to moves.
Books:
A Kiss Goodbye by Audrey Penn is a great book for teaching children about moving.
Alexander, Who's Not (Do You Hear Me? I Mean It!) Going to Move by Judith Viorst is also a fun book about moving.
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Regarding Military Deployment:
Books:
A Very Long Time by Geri Timperley and Nikki Arro. * A beautiful picture book illustrated by a child and written specifically about military deployment.
The Invisible String by Patrice Karst. * This picture book is one we read to classes. While it's not directly about deployment, it provides a calming concept for children. The concept is that we're always connected to the people (animals, etc) that we care about by invisible strings. All of STMA's elementary schools have multiple copies of this book.