Please Explain “Anxiety” to Me!: Simple Biology and Solutions for Children and Parents
Laurie Zelinger, PhD, and Jordan Zelinger
Loving Healing Press (2010)
ISBN 9781615990290
Reviewed by Marissa Libbit for Reader Views (08/10)
“Please Explain ‘Anxiety’ to Me” by Laurie Zelinger, PhD, and her son Jordan Zelinger is a children’s book designed to help explain anxiety, or unnecessary worry, to children. Many children experience physical symptoms when they worry, and this book explains the physical reactions of the body during anxious moments.
Beginning with a story about the dinosaurs and how plant-eating dinosaurs worry about being eaten, the authors make parallel connections between the sympathetic nervous system of the dinosaur and that of humans. Explained in simple terms, there is an “on-off” switch within each of us that sometimes flips to “on” when we worry unnecessarily. Tips for children to shut off this switch end the book. Children are taught easy to remember tips such as “Blow slow” to remind them to breathe slowly when anxious or to “Talk or walk” to remind them to talk to a trusted adult or to change locations. The book is also full of nice, colorful pictures to hold the interest of a child.
On a personal note, I have an anxious grade school child. I read this book to him. First I asked him, “Do you ever worry about things you know you shouldn’t?” He said, “Oh, yes!” Right away, he related to the premise. As a worried parent I learned not only how to teach my child how to deal with unwarranted worries, but also how to implement some of the tricks to retrain myself. I will be passing this book on to our school’s psychologist. I highly recommend “Please Explain Anxiety to Me.” To realize my child is not alone in his worries and to appreciate there are ways to help him is a huge relief.
Please Explain “Anxiety” to Me! Simple Biology and Solutions for Children and Parents
Laurie Zelinger, PhD, and Jordan Zelinger
Loving Healing Press (2010)
ISBN 9781615990290
Reviewed by Evan Weldon (age 8) for Reader Views (08/10)
“Please Explain ‘Anxiety’ to Me! Simple Biology and Solutions for Children and Parents” by Laurie Zelinger, PhD, and Jordan Zelinger is a book that explains what anxiety is and why it exists. The second part of the book gives ideas and suggestions for getting rid of anxiety.
The chemicals that our bodies make when we are in danger prepare us for action like running away or fighting. Anxiety is when someone acts all scared without there really being any danger. People who are really anxious can’t concentrate or have fun because they are worrying. Some people even feel sick to the stomach.
This book also tells people how to control anxiety by riding a bike, thinking happy thoughts, and blowing bubbles. The end of the book has a couple of rhymes like “Blow Slow!” and “Distract-Get the Fact” to remind kids of things they can do to control anxiety.
More than half of each page is a color drawing. The pictures are simple drawings, but they are good and helped me to understand the book.
I would recommend this book to kids who have too much anxiety and need to learn how to control it. “Please Explain ‘Anxiety’ to Me! Simple Biology and Solutions for Children and Parents” would also help the friends of kids who have anxiety problems to understand what is going on.
