“Don’t Feed the Monster on Tuesdays!”

On our weekly dad-and-son trip to the public library last week, we found a book that I think is well worth mentioning. “Don’t Feed the Monster on Tuesdays!: The Children’s Self-Esteem Book” is a self-help book for kids in the form of a fun, children’s story.

The monster in this book is that voice inside all of us that “makes us think negative thoughts” about ourselves. It is the voice that says, “You’re dumb” or “you’re fat” or “no one likes you.” With colorful illustrations, the book depicts this voice as a green monster who literally takes bites out of our self-esteem every time we think badly about ourselves. The more negative thoughts we have, the bigger the monster grows and the smaller we feel as he eats away at our self-esteem.

Within the context of a funny story, the book goes on to give kids constructive tips for building self-esteem. It suggests starting with just one day – Tuesdays – where we stop being negative and, instead, be positive about ourselves. As we stop feeding the monster, he gets smaller and smaller while our self-esteem grows bigger and bigger.

I think that kids with autism may be more likely to be faced with self-esteem issues, so I want to begin to address it while my son is still young. I wouldn’t know how to explain about self-esteem on my own. This book use simple language to explain the concept in a way that kids can understand. Best of all, Kai laughed in many places, and was thoroughly interested throughout.

It’s Tuesday; don’t feed the monster today!