When a parent experiences mental illness, it can leave a child feeling stranded and struggling to fix what’s wrong. Using the metaphor of a kite that soars out of reach, as well as a boat that bobs and sinks, My Mom is Like a Kite looks at mental illness from a child’s point of view, offering understanding, comfort, and tools to help weather the storm. 

In this compassionately told story, a child tries to pull their mother down out of the sky like a kite, only to find themselves bailing water from a sinking boat – all to no avail. Feeling helpless and often alone, with only their cat for company, they ask Mom if she will be OK, but Mom is unable to answer. 

It is only when they visit Grace the therapist, on one of Mom’s good days, that things start to fall into place. The child’s job isn’t to bail out the boat to help Mom. Instead, they talk about their feelings, draw, and even play games. And sometimes they don’t have to say anything at all. 

With delicate, whimsical illustrations by Nathalie Dion, My Mom is Like a Kite provides parents and children alike with a simple roadmap for approaching mental illness within a family. It offers a positive message about normalizing the need to reach out for help, all while giving children a tool to help manage their own feelings and fears – now and for the rest of their lives.mRb