#142 Dr. Monica Schaeffer - Easy and Fun Ways to Help Children Cope with Stress

Dads of Great Students

Auntie Nellie's Magical Pockets is both an entertaining and educational story about a boy named Casey, whose amusing, helpful Aunt comes to visit for a week. Out of her amazingly deep, bottomless pockets, she pulls anti-stress gadgets. Using these gadgets, Casey learns to cope with six common, stressful childhood situations, including handling a major disappointment, getting teased, and learning a new skill. In the final chapter, Casey uses two of these gadgets, his Who-Can-I-Tell? Megaphone and his Save-the-Day Idea Bank, to help his friend the way Auntie Nellie helped him. As a bonus, Parent/Teacher Notes are included in each chapter. They provide the adult reader with the principles behind the gadgets, as well as additional tips for helping the child practice the new coping skills. Monica H. Schaeffer, Ph.D., is a health psychologist who has conducted research and led workshops on stress and decision-making and stress management. She has been published in a number of professional journals on the effects of environmental stress, commuter stress, and illness severity. After studying stress in adults, both acute and chronic, Dr. Schaeffer recognized that children could benefit from possessing a repertoire of coping techniques to prevent the harmful effects of stress. In fact, the stories and techniques included in this book began taking shape when her oldest daughter communicated that she was not satisfied with simply having bedtime stories read to her and would exclaim, "tell me a story from your mind." Currently Dr. Schaeffer is the president of the non-profit organization, VITAL, Inc. (www.vitalinc.org) and facilitates workshops on ethical wills/legacy letters. Her hobbies include photography, travel, and museum hopping.