My Dad Got Hurt. What Can I Do?

With Brunella I. Costagliola and illustrations by Valerio Mazzoli this book offers young readers practical coping tools to empower children to feel confident about themselves and become a more active participant in his or her injured parent’s life. Every day many children watch as a parent goes off to a military assignment often in dangerous situations. Most children will later welcome home their parents who served without incident. Others however will greet a parent who suffered a head injury which changes all their lives. While brain injury is a complex topic it is an unfortunate fact that certain types of brain injuries which are all too common in military personnel affect a person’s behaviors such as mood and temper. A previously kind and loving parent may become irritable short-fused and be intolerant of frustration after a brain injury. To a child this change can be scary and overwhelming. Children may not understand why Mom or Dad is so different and may blame themselves.