Sara Olsher

Nothing Stays the Same, but That's Okay: A Book to Read When Everything (or Anything) Changes - What about Me? Books Sara Olsher

What happens if we move to a new house?
What if I get a new brother or sister?
What if one of my parents goes away for awhile?
What if I start a new school?
What if something changes?!

Kids and grown-ups have lots of fears, but the "unknown" edges out pretty much everything else. When something changes in a child's life, life goes from predictable and safe to confusing . . . and kinda scary.

Kids (like the rest of us) handle change best if they know what to expect, both on a day-to-day basis and long-term. Join Mia and her stuffed giraffe Stuart as they explain changes big and small and how they affect a kid's day-to-day life. Using an illustrated calendar to explain how changes affects a child's daily routine, Nothing Stays the Same But That's Okay focuses on the child's experience and removes unknowns from the equation.

This book is a therapist-approved resource for teaching kids the coping skills necessary for adapting to transitions and change. By introducing the concept of an overwhelmed, too-busy brain, kids are empowered to recognize overwhelm in themselves and choose from a variety of tools to help manage it.

"Most of the time we do the same things in the mornings. We wake up. We eat breakfast. (I like apples. Stuart only eats bugs.) . . . But our days can be different. Some days we go to school, and some days are the weekend! We can see the different days on a calendar like this one. When something goes from one thing to being a different thing, it's called a change."

By creating a routine that kids can see and understand, parents can restore a sense of safety and predictability in their kids' lives, helping them to be more resilient in the face of life's inevitable changes.

Nothing Stays the Same But That's Okay is the perfect book for kids who don't handle transitions or changes very well (especially those with anxiety, ADHD, sensory processing disorder, or autism), or who are facing big changes like starting school or getting a new sibling.

It aims to empower kids with knowledge, which is proven to help kids through hard situations. Aimed at families with kids ages 4 to 10, this method of teaching is based on decades of solid science about how kids learn and cope with the major day-to-day changes that result from life's toughest stuff.