| My Mom Went to Jail | |
|
|
A book to help children cope with their mother's incarceration. |
| This book is designed to be read to
a child by an adult. It can be used with two age groups. The text on
the left hand pages is appropriate for 6-10 year-olds; and the shorter,
condensed version under the pictures is more suitable for preschoolers.
|
| We deliberately chose not to name
the mother's crime, so the book could be applicable to a wider audience.
Our suggestion is to address, in a simple way, a child's questions about what
their particular parent did wrong. For example, "You did hit someone
and hurt them. He needs to learn other things to do when he has angry
feelings - things that don't hurt anybody." Or, "Your mom has a
problem with using drugs. The drugs make her do mean things. They
make her forget to take care of you. She needs help to stop using
them."
|
| Children may feel blame for
their parent's incarceration. If they were abused by a parent, they may assume it was because they were bad. We've tried to counter this common
child's perception and encourage adults reading this book to children to
reinforce the idea that children are not bad. They are still learning how
to behave and it's the job of grown-ups to help them. Adults are expected
to know how to behave. When they don't, they need help from other
adults. Sometimes they have to go to jail.
|
| It's important to remember that many children of abusive parents still have positive feelings about their parent, no matter what the parent has done. Children often need to know they can dislike the behavior but still care about the parent. |
| Written by: Kathleen Hodgkins,
MSSW;
and Suzanne Bergen, MA |
20 Pages |
|
Illustrated by: Lori O'Brien |
$5.50 |
|
ISBN 1-931273-00-6 The Rainbow Project, Inc. |
| ORDER TODAY - | Click here for check
order form if paying by check.
|
| Click here for credit card order form if paying by credit card. |
