Rainbow Roar is a blog designed to help children begin to work through emotional issues such as worry, loss, grief, bullying, loneliness, and confusion triggered by everything from the death of a pet to parents’ divorce or military deployment.
The blog provides a safe, privacy-protected site where kids can connect online with other kids experiencing similar worries and emotions. By writing and drawing, kids as young as 4 can, with their parents’ help, begin to explore their feelings. At the same time, Rainbow Roar gives older children and young teens an anonymous forum they can use to tell their stories and explore their emotions and what has caused them. This helps children take the critical first step toward opening up so that parents and counselors can help them heal, move forward, and grow.
Why Rainbow Roar?
A Daily Exercise for Opening Up an All-important Conversation
It can be tough to get children – especially very young children – to talk about what they are feeling. Talking, however, is critical. Research shows that 15-20% of adolescents (starting at age 5) suffer from depression.[1] In the US, emotional and behavioral problems are among the most prevalent conditions of children ages 4-17, with serious consequences for academic achievement and social development.[2] When parents suspect kids are having a tough time, they can use Rainbow Roar to ‘get a temperature reading’ and help them work through what they’re feeling.
Stories, Drawings and Posts Welcome
Rainbow Roar encourages children to post content about what they are feeling – happy, sad, worried or confused – as well as helpful tips for other children going through tough times. Posts can be just a few sentences or several paragraphs. Longer works – poems, drawings and stories – can be emailed to Rainbow Roar where they will be reviewed and published to the blog. To maintain a safe, positive and secure environment, posts do not feature children’s identities and no comments are allowed on content submitted to the blog. All posts are reviewed by Rainbow Roar before they're allowed to be visible on the site.
___________________________________
[1] A Primer on Childhood and Adolescent Depression, Dr. Nadja Reilly, http://www.cehl.org/art_94.shtml
[2] National Health Statistics Reports No. 48, Patricia N. Pastor, Ph.D., et al; National Center for Health Statistics/NHIS, February 24, 2012.
The Rainbow Roar blog is operated by RAINBOW REACH, an organization dedicated to providing counseling, outreach programs and materials to help children ages 4-14 cope with grief, loss, and anxiety. RAINBOW REACH was founded by Susan Bach Weaver, a Certified Grief Recovery Specialist.
The Rainbow Reach workbook series has received glowing reviews from parents, psychologists, trauma therapists, veterinarians and noted authors in the field of grief recovery, including Fran Zamore (GriefWork), Linda Goldman (Raising Our Children to be Resilient), Russell Friedman and John W. James (When Children Grieve), and Melissa Taylor (Imagination Soup blog).
The first four activity books in the series are available for $13.95 each on Amazon:
• Heroes! Activities for Kids Dealing with Deployment
• Love & Memories: Activities for Kids Who Have Lost a Loved One
• Forever Friend: Activities for Kids Who Have Lost a Pet
• Worry Busters! Activities for Kids Who Worry Too Much
More information about these books plus additional child-oriented tools and services can be found at:
www.RainbowReach.com
