iParenting Media Award Winner Samantha Jane hasn't been smiling much lately.
She lost her smile about a month ago.
That was when her dad died.
Samantha Jane misses her father very much. Sometimes the sadness feels so big she is afraid to let herself feel it. Sammy Jane is also worried about her mother, and whether they are all going to be happy again someday. But then she feels guilty. Is it right to feel happy when her father can't be here to enjoy life, too?
The loss of a parent is a profound event for a child. In the aftermath of the death, children face great emotional vulnerability and distress and need help from their surviving parent and other supportive adults around them. Reassurance and support, as well as practical coping tools, are key to the child's ability to recover and lead a full and happy life. Samantha Jane's Missing Smile is the story of one child's loss.
When her father dies, Sammy Jane doesn't know how to express her grief. She fears that her sadness will overwhelm her if she faces it. She worries that her sadness will overburden her mother, too, and that her mother won't be available for her. She is angry at the unfairness of her loss. And she feels guilty about the prospect of smiling ever again.
In this gentle story, Sammy Jane learns to face her feelings and to realize that they won't go away if she ignores them. She also discovers that sharing those feelings is both comforting and reassuring. With her mother's help, she finds ways to keep the memory of her father alive. And finally, she understands that a full, happy life is what her father would want for her.
A Note to Parents by Dr. Jane Annunziata describes the psychological issues that children confront when a parent dies, and offers guidance to the remaining parent for helping the child recover from this life-changing event.
About the Author: Julie B. Kaplow, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist with expertise in the psychological consequences of childhood trauma and loss. She has served on the Traumatic Grief Task Force of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network and she is the Principal Investigator of an NIMH study examining mental health outcomes in children who have lost a parent. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with her family.
Donna Pincus, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and an Associate Professor at Boston University. She is also the Director of the Child and Adolescent Fear and Anxiety Treatment Program at the Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders at Boston University and is editor and creator of the Child Anxiety Network, a website dedicated to providing information about child anxiety and its treatments. She lives in Newton, Massachusetts, with her family.
Beth Spiegel, illustrator of Samantha Jane's Missing Smile, is an illustrator, a painter, and a picture editor, with a focus on documentary films. She has worked with PBS, ABC, National Geographic, and Vulcan Films, and she directed an animation short that won several international awards. She lives in Altadena, California.
