Perhaps one of the most challenging aspects of motherhood with chronic illness is helping your children understand what is going on with your body and encouraging acceptance about how your illness may impact them. How can you help them develop empathy about what you’re experiencing, especially if your illness is invisible? Where’s the line between being honest and making them worry? What’s the best way to address their concerns in kid-friendly language? This is a topic that will likely need to be an ongoing discussion in your family – and sometimes reading a book together can help!
Mommy, What’s Wrong?
by Jessica Hensarling
I received a copy of this book as a gift from Mamas Facing Forward. I was not compensated for this review and all opinions are my own.
The focus of this book is to describe the struggles of a mom in the postpartum period with a newborn and an older child (though not by much older.) It talks about her struggles with postpartum depression and anxiety – from a child’s perspective. I read this book with my older child, and it helped him understand that while mommy may be sad or angry at times, it doesn’t meant she loves you any less.
The postpartum period is one of the hardest periods in life, and does not receive enough attention. When one’s responsibilities double and there may not be much help, it can take many forms of emotion to deal with. Some women begin to feel anxious or depressed within days, and it can lead to crying spells or bursts of anger. This may be difficult for a young child to understand, and can be scary for them to process. Having experienced postpartum depression and anxiety with my first pregnancy, I was very careful with my second one, to manage emotions. This book is simple with words a child can easily understand and comprehensive illustrations. This book helped my older child understand that times can be difficult for mommy, with the arrival of the new baby. My son is 8 so this book was simple to read, however it is perfect for 4+ year olds. I recommend this book for mothers in this stage to read with their children.
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