Together Things

In today’s world of high stress and pressure, depression is something that sadly is all too common, but how do children learn to understand and live with the days when their beloved parent is suffering.

Michelle Vasiliu and Gwynneth Jones in Together Things have crafted a lovely story especially for young children, as a little girl shows us how she copes when her dad can’t do things the way he used to and the new way they have found to show each other they still love each other, heaps.

Her dad used to climb mountains with her, push her on the swings, sail stormy seas and tame wild animals, in the garden of course.

But now her dad sometimes can’t do these things because his head hurts inside, he gets muddled in his head, and feels very sad. Perhaps the new Doctor may even say daddy needs to go to hospital for a while. So how can she still do together things with her dad, even though things have changed.

Perhaps, thinks the little girl, I can cuddle under the blankets with dad, draw lovely pictures for him; maybe they can listen to music or watch TV together and while daddy is getting better, there are heaps of different things they can do together.

Children struggling to accept change in their family caused by mental illness, will benefit from this warm hearted story helping them understand the reality of depression, suffered by one in five adults; that it is OK to feel, sad, upset and angry, and how to discover finding different things to do with their beloved parent, when there is a massive change in the family structure.