Synopsis

Every day, many children watch as a parent goes off to a military assignment, often in dangerous situations. Most children will later welcome home their parents who served without incident. Others, however, will greet a parent who suffered a head injury, which changes all their lives.

While brain injury is a complex topic, it is an unfortunate fact that certain types of brain injuries, which are all too common in military personnel, affect a person’s behaviors such as mood and temper. A previously kind and loving parent may become irritable, short-fused and be intolerant of frustration after a brain injury. To a child, this change can be scary and overwhelming. Children may not understand why Mom or Dad is so different and may blame themselves for their parent’s moodiness.

With illustrations by Valerio Mazzoli, this book offers young readers practical coping tools to empower children to feel confident about themselves and become a more active participant in his or her injured parent’s life.

This book targets children between the ages of 8-12 who, without any preparation and at a very young age, have been confronted by their mother or father coming home from their military service with a brain injury. Because brain damage is so often invisible, these children are confronted with an especially difficult reality. Although their parent is home from combat and may look like he or she did before deployment, mom or dad does not act or behave the same way they did prior to deployment.

For every $15 donation NAN will gift a book to a warrior family.

https://bluestarfam.org/2017/09/helping-military-children-cope-brain-injured-parent/

Dr. Fisher has donated copies to Blue Star Families to assist with the distribution of the book to children of parents who have suffered a brain injury.

Review

This book covers an important topic and is told in a way that young children might understand.

This book tells the story of Jackson and Sally’s dad and how when he came back from serving a tour of duty that his brain was affected in an accident. It changed his personality and he wasn’t the father that they remembered. Luckily a doctor steps in and explains to them what is going on in terminology that they can understand. She also gives them the 7 C’s to remember that they are not at fault and what they can do to help their dad during this time.

The book does seem very simplistic in language and would be best for those about 8 and younger.

We give it 4 paws up

About the Author

Dr. Jerid Fisher continues to foster innovation in his second year as Chair of the National Academy of Neuropsychology (NAN) Foundation where his primary goal is to expand knowledge of the Foundation’s mission to a larger community of people, especially those in the military.

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