Something Is Wrong at My House: A Book About Parents' Fighting - Softcover

Davis, Diane

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1884734650 ISBN 13: 9781884734656

Publisher: Chicago Review Press, 2010

Synopsis

How can kids understand and cope when their parents fight? Based on a true story, this 32-page book shows a child seeking, and finally obtaining, help in a domestic violence situation. Written so that it can be used with both the very young, and the school-age child, Something Is Wrong at My House provides brief text with illustrations on one page of each two-page spread, and more detailed information on the facing page. Ideal for use by school nurses, counselors, social workers and teachers, and by therapists, and the staff in shelters.

The first edition of Something Is Wrong at My House is available in English with library binding, and in Spanish.

About this title

About the Author:

Diane Davis knows what domestic violence is. Terrified as a child when her parents fought, she hid herself and her younger brother and sister in a bathroom or closet.

Like many from violent homes, Davis ended up in a marriage that turned abusive. These grim experiences brought her to membership in a support group for battered women, and that led to Something Is Wrong at My House.

As a single parent she returned to school, completed a B.A. in human services, a certification program in alcohol studies and then a M.A. in psychology.

What I went through as a child and young mother enables me to relate to the trauma that battered women and their children experience, Davis explains, adding that adults often assume or want to believe---that children don t realize what is going on. But many children have told me about the fights they ve witnessed. Kids have even described the cycle of violence and predicted when the next beating will take place.

The fact that children can be so insightful does not relieve them of fear and emotional pain, she points out.

Beyond what children suffer through domestic violence is what they learn, says Davis.

Children are like understudies in a play, watching and learning from their parents. I have seen first-hand how children mimic the violence they have seen at home. It becomes learned behavior.

Making Davis more sensitive to the lifelong risks of family violence was her graduate school internship at a psychiatric hospital and volunteer work at a women s shelter.
Davis s volunteer work in agencies such as Seattle s New Beginnings shelter for battered women and their children and the comments of professionals using the book have also made her aware of how important it is that children be able to talk about the violence they have experienced. Children are ashamed of what is happening in their homes, but they ll start talking once they realize other children have gone through the same experiences.

It s also vital, she emphasizes, that children be assured that they are not to blame for the violence. That s something kids often assume.

Something Is Wrong at My House created a career for Davis in abuse prevention and treatment, and it led to such later publications as Working with Children from Violent Homes and Stop It, Now! A Guide for the Prevention of Sexual Harassment for Elementary School Children. Her coaching and consulting practice covers special needs, chemical dependency, positive communication, and positive parenting as well as domestic violence, anger management, grief and loss in children and reporting child abuse. Davis has also worked on sexual abuse prevention curricula and a video that prepares parents to respond to disclosures of sexual abuse.

Through assignments with Child Care Resources & Referral of King County, Seattle and Bellevue Public Schools, Puget Sound and Olympic Educational Service Districts, School s Out Washington, the City of Seattle s WIC program for low-income mothers and the Child Protective Services unit of Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, Davis has worked with both educators and parents as a trainer and counselor, providing prevention, early intervention and parenting programs.

In early 2010 she began a series of webinars for the Washington State Head Start/ECEAP Association on such topics as:

* Understanding Autism
* Understanding Sensory Integration Disorder
* Working with Children with Fetal Alcohol Disorder
* Working with High-Risk Children
* Managing Behaviors in Children with Special Needs

An adjunct faculty member at Bellevue (WA) College and the Seattle Community College District, Davis is a Seattle native and today lives in West Seattle. She is a graduate of Highline High School and Antioch University.

Review:

An extremely well conceived little paperback that deals with a serious issue...in a format which children can easily comprehend and that offers them solutions....Deals with the child s many conflicting feelings in these situations the anger, the confusion, the fright and self-doubt. However, the best thing about it is...the excellent segment which suggests the various resources the child can turn to... --The Reviewing Librarian

Many counselors will find this book to be an effective tool in helping children learn to cope in a violent household...Several students with whom I have used this book have nodded their heads in agreement to many of the character s statements...The pain experienced by the boy is vividly described....Children who live in a violent home with identify with the problems and learn coping skills from the book s main character --Elementary School Guidance & Counseling

I wish every child could have a copy of this book --Family Violence Projetc, Florence, AL

About this edition

• Publisher: Chicago Review Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1884734650
• ISBN 13: 9781884734656
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 34
• Illustrator: Neely Keith R.