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!
My Mom is Sick and It’s Okay
by Angie McPherson
Lindsey Sullivan 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 of this book is chronic illness, as evidenced by the cover image of a person in an MRI machine and the words ‘chronic illness’ written across the front. The cover made the intent of the book clear, but also allowed for an initial conversation between myself and my children. Although we have discussed MRI tests before (because I have them regularly), my children seemed to have more questions when presented with the cartoon depiction of an MRI machine.
As a mother living with multiple sclerosis, I found this book very accessible and relatable for my family. The author describes the variations in symptoms one experiences when living with a chronic illness, which I found to be accurate from a patient perspective. My family and I enjoyed the way in which the author balanced the discussion about illness, giving examples of struggles and strengths of those living with chronic illness.
I appreciated the reference to the use of compensatory strategies used by the mother in the story (i.e. sitting to play a game), which gave my children perspective on how I may need to rest or do activities a little differently than others when I am not feeling well. I felt this book was accessible for elementary age children, however my toddler was able to understand the premise with some additional explanation.
I also appreciated the emphasis on managing illness together as a family. At times, everyone in the family is impacted by chronic illness of a single family member, and the author in this case depicted this scenario as a way to work together rather than an experience of loss or negativity.
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