“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.