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!
When Mommy Is Sick
by Ferne Sherkin-Langer
Laura Ronnfeldt, the author of this review, received a copy of this book as a gift from Mamas Facing Forward. She was not compensated for this review and all opinions are her own.
The focus on “When Mommy Is Sick” is a mother needing to be in the hospital for a few weeks. I thought this book would be a good read for a family that has someone needing to stay in the hospital regularly. This book talks about the changes in the home when mommy is gone. It also covers how other people come chip in and help out while she is gone.
Another focus of the book is helping the daughter cope with the emotions of her mommy being sick. The book talks about how it is not the daughter’s fault that mommy was sick. I think that is a good message for the kiddos to hear and understand. As is it hard to understand chronic illnesses for adults, it’s very hard for kids.
I would say this book is good for 6-10 year olds. As the book talks about learning to count down the days of the week. The problem I see with this book is it looks old, you can tell it was written awhile ago. The message is good and it talks how ways kiddos can feel when mommy is sick. The book doesn’t rhyme and the illustrations are not super kid friendly. But this book is from a kiddos point of view. While it is outdated it is a good message and I would think it would help a kiddo understand the situation better.
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