My Dad Got Hurt What Can I Do? - Helping Military Children Cope With a Brain-Injured Parent

With Brunella I. Costagliola and illustrations by Valerio Mazzoli, this book offers young readers practical coping tools to empower children to feel confident about themselves and become a more active participant in his or her injured parent’s life.

Every day, many children watch as a parent goes off to a military assignment, often in dangerous situations. Most children will later welcome home their parents who served without incident. Others, however, will greet a parent who suffered a head injury, which changes all their lives.

While brain injury is a complex topic, it is an unfortunate fact that certain types of brain injuries, which are all too common in military personnel, affect a person’s behaviors such as mood and temper. A previously kind and loving parent may become irritable, short-fused and be intolerant of frustration after a brain injury. To a child, this change can be scary and overwhelming. Children may not understand why Mom or Dad is so different and may blame themselves.