New Children’s Book that will Touch the Whole Family
By
About the Story
Four year old Gavin has a lot to be thankful for. He has a wonderful family that enjoys being outside and having lots of fun. But Gavin is not the oldest, and he’s not the youngest. He’s just… in the middle. Sometimes Gavin feels sad and left out, and like he’s just not very important. He believes that if he was different he would then feel special, but what he’s about to learn is that he is perfect just the way he is.
Based on a true conversation
Between author Sandra Payne and her son, THE PERFECT SNOWFLAKE illustrates the struggle of a young child trying to find his sense of belonging and importance in his world. Comparing our human uniqueness and beauty to that of the many snowflakes that fall in the winter, the book presents the concept of self-worth in an age-appropriate and engaging way.
The Shame Culture
Of all the work that I do to support women nurses who it’s their psychological, emotional, and traumatic suffering there is a few common threads that emerge. One is SHAME. Shame is a tough emotion to describe but the best understanding I’ve found is our “not enoughness”. It is pervasive feeling that eats away at every aspect of our lives because of its constant reminder that we are not good enough in some way. We as women, and also men, are subject to this poisonous influence as we exist within our modern day systems. But it also affects our children.
Our children are growing up in a world quite different then the one we did and shame in our culture is trickling down to them. We as parents are busier than ever, glued to our phones and devices, and struggling to find ourselves in this toxic culture all the while our children are also trying to navigate their own existence and many are landing in a place of feeling small, unimportant, and insignificant.
Being a middle child or having multiple siblings only makes this low vibrational feeling of shame WORSE. We now have more to complete with, sibling rivalry and comparison dynamics, and the constant strive for love, attention, and affection.
Shame erodes our self worth and self esteem and can lead to depression, anxiety, substance use and more.
