Looking after your Mental Health – Books for children with meaning!
As I’m sure you already know, I am passionate about books. One of the very first things I bought when I discovered I was pregnant with my daughter was her first book. – Dogger by Shirley Hughes. I know it’s not a ‘baby book’ but it was one of my favourites and I had dreamed of reading it to my child for years and years.
My Mum often reminds me of the first time I finished Matilda and I rushed downstairs crying, such was the power of Roald Dahl’s writing. I have spent much of the last 8 years reading books to children and rarely to myself (I can read at least 5 Julia Donaldson from memory!!) , though those of you who are in our recently created book club will know I’ve re-discovered my adult-reading mojo!
Here are some quite sobering statistics from Mental Health.org.uk
- 20% of adolescents may experience a mental health problem in any given year.1
- 50% of mental health problems are established by age 14 and 75% by age 24.2
- 10% of children and young people (aged 5-16 years) have a clinically diagnosable mental problem3, yet 70% of children and adolescents who experience mental health problems have not had appropriate interventions at a sufficiently early age.4
These statistics prove that mental health problems are prevalent in our children, there are many things we can do as parents but I personally feel that awareness is the first step…
A friend of mine is an Usborne Books Rep and told me about this book for children, helping them understand mental health. I’m not aware of anything similar and I was really excited to read what it had to offer for children, especially keeping my almost nine year old daughter in mind.
I know first hand the impact mental health can have on families and I am almost certain that the stigma that can be attached to mental health won’t be there in the future if we teach the youngest generation about looking after their minds as well as their bodies from school age upwards
I’m not talking in depth discussions about depression but wouldn’t it be wonderful if our children felt able to talk more freely about their feelings or at least understand that they’re valid.
Looking After Your Mental Health by Usborne Books is available to buy for £6.99 and if you’d like to support a small business and Mum you can order your copy through Fiona by sending her a message on her facebook page here Fiona is pledging commission from the sales of these books to her forthcoming trip to Uganda where she and a friend are volunteering in a school.
Looking After Your Mental Health tackles so many aspects of mental health it would be easy to pick up and put down and use for reference, as a parent I have already seen the rewards of reading this with Olivia who opened up to me about a couple of things and I was reminded that I must continue to keep those lines of communication open always.
There are some chapters which are slightly too old for us at the moment but will no doubt be useful in the future.
Written by a Consultant child psychiatrist, a professor of psychology and mental health blogger the book oozes confidence building, empowering and factual information which is written in a friendly non-patronising tone with great illustrations.
Here are some of the chapters:
- What is mental health?
- Inside your brain
- How do you feel?
- Who are you?
- Friends
- Family
- Sex & Romance
- On the Internet
- Difficult times
- Mental health problems
- Depression & Anxiety
- Eating Disorders
- Finding Help
Highly recommended for anyone with a junior school age child + I would suggest. Definitely one I know we will return to time and time again.
I am not taking any commission nor is this a sponsored post – all views are my own and have not been influenced or requested to write this blog
