A reminder from Found: Psalm 23

Here’s an excerpt from my most recent email. Please do Become an Insider if you’d like to receive these entries right in your inbox.

Many of you have shared that your children are struggling with fear. How do we talk to children about fear? How do we help them with their anxiety? Here are a couple of tips that might help.

Speak with your child about how fear gets to talk to us—but we don’t have to do what it says. Help your child understand that fear in itself isn’t bad. It helps us. It tells us when we are in danger.

But fear doesn’t get to be the boss of us.

My niece was going through a time of great fear as a seven-year-old because of bullies. It inspired me to write Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing. I wrote it to be a book of hope—an antidote to fear.

Here’s just one of the entries (and as a bonus, I’ll read it to you in English and Spanish with my friend, Tony Plana).

And here’s my bonus tip for you: to help our child, we must first deal with our own anxiety. Like the oxygen mask on a plane—the only way we can help someone else is if we have our own mask firmly in place first. So take a moment for yourself. It’s a gift you give not just to yourself but also to your child.

And speaking of gifts, here’s one from me to you. Normally our freebies are reserved only for Insiders, but I thought we could all use a reminder that we’re not alone.  Click here to download your free printable or lock screen image

Courage to you, friends—even as we walk in the land of fear, we do not walk alone.

—SLJ

P.S. Here’s my Resource Roundup that you might enjoy:

Resources While You’re Home: Free resources to keep you busy, entertained, and full of hope

Helping Children with Scary News: My number one tip for talking with children about scary news

Top Book Picks for Inspiring Courage: Some of my favourite picture books to cheer you along as you take courage

Peace be Still: My Spotify playlist

Stay at Home Story Time: Stories have a beautiful way of bringing us all together. Please join me as I read aloud from my stories