Let My Colors Out

Oftentimes, insights and mantras that help adults become Healthy Survivors can help children whose parent is going through treatment, if presented in an age-appropriate way.

One children's book that does this well is Let My Colors Out,, a 12-page board book published by the American Cancer Society and sold online for $11.95.

The author, Courntey Filigenzi, uses simple text and lovely illustrations by Shennen Bersani to help children acknowledge the varied feelings they can feel when their parent goes through cancer treatment.

More importantly, Filigenzi reinforces her key message on every page: It's okay to feel whatever you feel, whether that is scared (purple), sad and alone (blue), jealous of kids who aren't dealing with cancer in the family (green ), pretending everything is okay and normal again (orange ), angry (red) and happy despite all that is going on (yellow).

Let My Colors Out can do the talking for a parent who is unsure how to start --  or continue -- a conversation with his or her young children about their feelings. It provides a perfect way to introduce to children one of the mantras of Healthy Survivors: It matters less what you feel than what you do with what you feel. 

[For more information on raising children when a parent has cancer, see When a Parent has Cancer,]

Comments

[Jan Hasak]

What a great suggestion for an age-appropriate book! A woman from my support group made her own book for her young sons, but not everyone can do that. Thank you for this review.
Jan

[Lori]

Beautiful....I remember the utter loss of how to start this diaglog nearly ten years ago, when my son was only 3 1/2. So glad to see how many resources are now there to help families!!