When Mum and Dad Talk

Published Australia, 2009
This storybook gives voice to a simple naming of the complex mix of emotions that children can experience while parents are working through their issues with one another following a relationship breakdown. The parents in Tess Rowley's book learn to communicate with one another as parents and learn how their behaviour might be affecting their children. 'They are really trying to communicate in a better way,' the boy says. 'One day Dad called for us and Mum spoke very politely to him. Dad spoke quietly to Mum.' His parents still don't hug each other and his dad still lives in his own house. 'It's different,' says the boy, 'but it's better now.'  Watercoloured drawings by Rhiannon McLay.

Tess Rowley works at Centacare Catholic Community Services in Brisbane, Australia.
Ages 6-12 years