Tips for Tuesdays - Books: This Is How It Always Is and Anxiety-Free Kids: An Interactive Guide for Parents and Kids

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Mom - Today I am recommending two books that have to do with families trying to help their children navigate through life despite obstacles whether they are internal or external or sometimes, maybe a little bit of both.

The first book is This Is How It Always It Is by Laurie Frankel. This is a very timely book about a family and their transgender child. Penn and Rosie have five boys, and then everything changes. Their youngest child, Claude starts wearing dresses and eventually changes his name to Poppy, and the child that was once their son eventually becomes their daughter. Although there are some bumps in the road  within the family in handling Claude's transition into Poppy, over all the family is very loving and supportive. However, it is the rest of the world's reactions, they have to worry about. It is not only the haters they need to worry about either. Sometimes, even those who are trying to be supportive and sensitive actually only cause further issues for Poppy and/or her family as well. This is a heartwarming touching story. It handles an extremely sensitive topic in a beautiful manner. The characters are well drawn  and well delineated especially in the sense that whether they are supportive of  Claude's transition or not all of their reactions are quite different and quite believable. The story moves along at good pace as well and keeps you wanting to read more.  As the mother of transgender child herself, Laurie Frankel is the perfect person to write this story, and she does a beautiful job of it. I would highly recommend this very moving book.

The second book is the nonfiction book, Anxiety- Free Kids: An Interactive Guide for Parents and Children by Bonnie Zucker, Psy. D. This book is a primer on anxiety. It is for both parents and kids and is in fact split into two sections one for parents and one for kids. It talks about what causes anxiety and what the symptoms are, and what to do about it. Also, most importantly, at the end of every chapter, it provides mental exercises for children to perform to learn how to deal with and eventually get rid of their anxiety. It even provides ways to motivate your child if they don't want to make the effort to do the exercises.  The book also outlines the different types of anxiety and how the treatment for each varies. If Dr. Zucker is unfamiliar with dealing with the nuances of a particular type of anxiety, she refers you to a source where you can get further information on that topic. Dr. Zucker is a licensed psychologist, and in her practices she has helped many kids overcomes their anxiety using exactly the techniques she outlines and recommends in the book. This book is a great source for families coping with issues of childhood anxiety.

And that's our view.  Tune in tomorrow Where-To-Go Wednesday.