★Rights sold to SERBIA
★Written by experts in child psychology
★Therapeutic story + advice for adults
★TOPICS: social anxiety, learned helplessness, separation anxiety, deep worry, tension, restlessness, panic attacks
★Age group: Early learning (2 – 6), Beginning readers (5 – 7)
★Little hearts, big worries
Sometimes children will worry about many everyday things. Because of their youth, emotional and cognitive immaturity, lack of experience and sense that they don’t have control over things and people around them, some obstacles, situations, and problems will seem horrifying to them. They might develop deep worry, and they’ll need help from adults to normalize situation and put a small child back to the place of safety and calmness. Therapeutical stories teach adults that situations that seem small, insignificant and unimportant to them, are truly a big challenge for their child. They will learn that it is not ok to make child’s life perceptions and challenges smaller, to minimize their concerns or even laugh at them. What is small to big people, can be very big to little ones.

This series includes 4 titles:
I feel uncomfortable around other children - social anxiety caused by unpleasant experiences in the past
I feel unsafe when I’m not home - social anxiety caused by learned mistrust in the world
I feel restless when separated from my mum - separation anxiety
I feel scared that I will fail - panic attacks caused by social expectations and fear of failure

Little kangaroo enjoyed his mum’s company the most. They loved to play, walk, and cuddle all day long. One day, his dad suggested that he and his mum go on a trip alone, and that the little kangaroo spend the night at his friend’s house. Little kangaroo was excited about his first sleepover, but when he saw his mum’s worried face, he thought that it was not a good idea and that something terrible could happen. That’s why he started crying and didn’t want to be separated from his mother. He needed the help of adults to regain a sense of security and be able to enjoy the new experience.

This picture book is part of picture books series about anxiety in children. Depending on the cause, we recognize several types of anxiety. In this picture book we meet a little kangaroo who suffers from separation anxiety. Here we are not talking about the developmentally appropriate fear of separation that occurs between 6 and 12 months of age, but about conditions where separation anxiety is so intense that it causes significant stress in the child when they are separated from loved ones or home.

Until recently, anxiety was mostly mentioned in the context of difficulties in adults. However, experts who work with children have noticed a significant increase in anxiety symptoms among children. Younger children are increasingly troubled by the subjective feeling that something bad will happen in the future and that they will not be able to cope with that situation.

An anxious child is overwhelmed by feelings of deep worry, tension, restlessness, discomfort, confusion, and insecurity. They are hyper-focused on potential sources of threat and have urge to avoid them, to do everything possible to protect themselves. Child has difficulties relaxing and playing, remembering and learning, falling asleep, wants to isolate, complains of stomach aches, headaches, and other psychosomatic symptoms, refuses activities and socializing that they previously enjoyed, develops phobias or panic attacks, and needs help of an adult to learn to cope with these unpleasant states.

The story and tips for adults in this picture book help the whole family understand the causes, beliefs, feelings, and behaviours that accompany anxiety, and provide basic advice on how to cope with this condition.

Author: Tatjana Gjurković
Tatjana Gjurković has a master’s degree in psychology, she is certified psychotherapist, certified child play therapist (RPT), Certified Transactional Analyst (CTA), Teacher and Supervisor of Transactional Analysis (TSTA). She works individually with children and adults and holds educational programs for specialists in fields of child play therapy and transaction analysis. She is author of a book “Play Therapy with children” and 28 therapeutic picture books. She continuously promotes the importance of mental health in children and adults through Centar Proventus which she co-founded with her colleague Tea Knežević.

Author: Tea Knežević
Tea Knežević has master’s degree in psychology, she is certified psychotherapist, certified child play therapist (RPT) and Certified Transactional Analyst (CTA). She provides play therapy with children, psychotherapy with adults, parent consultations, and conducts numerous training courses for professionals in Centar Proventus which she co-founded with her colleague Tatjana Gjurković. She has written 28 picture books with therapeutic stories for children. In addition, she is the author of several manuals related to psychological resilience, gifted children, and anger management.

Illustrator: Jelena Brezovec
Jelena Brezovec has a master’s degree in social studies. For a long time, drawing was just a hobby, until 2008 when she became a co-founder of the publishing house Evenio and decided to study digital illustration, with the focus on children’s illustration. So far, she has illustrated more than 40 picture books and many other publications. She is the winner of the Grigor Vitez “Bird” Award, a special praise from the children’s jury. She has illustrated the most popular children’s book series in Croatia – Mrljek & Prljek. Her illustrations have been part of many exhibitions throughout Croatia. She lives and works in Varaždin, Croatia.