Mommy's Gone to Treatment. Denise D. Crosson

      

       Contents

       Mommy’s Gone to Treatment

       Talking with Children about Addiction Treatment

       Important Talking Points to Remember

       About the Author

       About the Illustrator

       Copyright

      One morning, Janey woke up to a beautiful sunshiny day. How strange, she thought as she looked around the room, Mommy usually comes to wake me up. She picked up her favorite doll and off they went to look for Mommy. They looked in Mommy’s bedroom, but it was quiet and dark. They looked in Mommy’s bathroom, but Mommy wasn’t there. They looked in Mommy’s office, but it was empty too. Where could Mommy be?

      Janey heard a sound in the kitchen. Could that be Mommy? She skipped down the stairs and found Daddy making breakfast and packing her lunch. How strange, Janey thought, Mommy does that every morning. “Where’s Mommy?” Janey asked her Daddy. Daddy said, “Janey, sit down and start your breakfast. We can talk about Mommy in a minute.”

      Daddy sat down next to Janey and said, “Janey, some things are hard for daddies to talk about, and this is one of them. Before I tell you, I hope you know Mommy and I love you very much.” Janey nodded, but she was scared. She didn’t know what to think.

      Daddy hugged Janey and said, “Mommy is sick and has gone to the hospital to get better. She’ll be gone until the doctor says she can come home. Your Grandmom is coming to help us out while Mommy is away.” Janey didn’t know what to think. This is not what she expected Daddy to say!

      Janey started to cry. “I want my Mommy. Why has Mommy gone?” Daddy stroked Janey’s hair and said, “I know you want your Mommy; I want Mommy too. If she could, Mommy would be here with us, but right now she is too sick.” Janey looked up at her Daddy. “I saw Mommy last night, and she didn’t look sick to me!”

      Daddy smiled at Janey. “I know. It’s hard to see where Mommy’s sick. Do you remember how sometimes Mommy would go to sleep and you couldn’t wake her up? And how sometimes she was really angry with you, even though you didn’t do anything wrong?” Janey nodded. “Well, those were all signs that she was sick. Your Mommy has a disease called addiction. We just didn’t realize it before. Now, she’s gone away to learn how to get better.”

      Janey kept crying. “She will come home, right?” Daddy chuckled. “Of course she’ll come home, and next week we’ll even go visit her in the hospital.” Janey was glad. She didn’t want her Mommy to be sick or to be gone. But she was happy Mommy had gone to get better because she didn’t like when Mommy did those things.

      “Will we get ice cream when we visit Mommy?” Janey sounded hopeful. “Ice cream?” Daddy asked. “When I was in the hospital, I got to eat all the ice cream I wanted,” Janey said, smiling.

      “Oh, I forgot you were in the hospital when you had your tonsils taken out. Well, Mommy is sick in a different way, so she’s in a different hospital. She’s in a hospital called a treatment center. If they don’t have ice cream at Mommy’s hospital, we’ll get some on the way home. Okay?”

      Now Janey’s smile was bigger. Daddy finished packing Janey’s lunch and drove her to school.