I Can Handle It!

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Vermilion, an imprint of Ebury Publishing,
20 Vauxhall Bridge Road,
London, SW1V 2SA

Vermilion is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com

Susan Jeffers and Donna Gradstein have asserted their right to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

To parents, teachers, child-minders and
all the other everyday heroes who contribute
to the well-being of children everywhere.

Acknowledgments

To our editor, Judith Kendra, and all the people at Random House who saw the value in our book and found a way to make it a reality.

To our American agent, Dominick Abel, and our British agent, David Grossman, who handled all the details.

To the children we interviewed who eagerly gave us so many wonderful insights as to which problems they wanted to learn how to handle.

To our own children who, over the years, have taught us both so much about ‘handling it’! And special thanks to Joscelyn, Donna’s 7-year-old daughter, who was always ‘on-call’ to answer our questions about the best way to reach our young audience. She is a jewel.

To Donna’s mother, Mildred (Mickey), for her loving support throughout the writing of our book. We BOTH love and appreciate her so much.

To our husbands, Mark and Henry, who contribute so much joy to our lives. How lucky we are!

To each other … for having the courage to write a book together given our long-standing and loving friendship. Whew! We handled it!

I Can Handle It! is a confidence-building book for you to read to and enjoy with your child.^fn1 It is based on the affirmation,

Whatever happens to me, given any situation in my life, I will be able to handle it.

This affirmation was first popularized in my book Feel The Fear and Do It Anyway and variations of it have been a part of all of my subsequent work. How gratifying it is to now create a book for children that is based on this powerful affirmation!^fn2

I Can Handle It! introduces you and your child to 50 children who are learning the ‘I can handle it’ lesson. Their stories reflect so much of what is real in the lives of many, if not all, children as they journey through their early years.

What is beautiful is that these stories all have happy endings. That is, the children learn that they can handle whatever life hands them. In this way:

Each situation, good or bad, becomes a stepping stone for inner growth.

I can’t think of a happier ending than that!

While the actual stories are fictional, they were derived from interviews with children who were very candid as to what truly upsets them. When asked what concerned them most, they were very quick to mention the three D’s … doctors, dentists and darkness! But there was so much more. As the Contents page shows, we divided the concerns of the children into ten categories:

Fear, Frustration, Pain, Sadness and Loss, Big, Big Loss, Anger, Embarrassment, Responsibility, Guilt, and THE WORLD!^fn3

As you read, you will notice that some of the stories could have been placed in a number of different categories. After a great deal of thought, we arranged them in the way that made the most sense to us for the purposes of this book.

If you think back on your own life, you may relate to the sentiments in each of the above categories. We all seem to go through a similar journey when it comes to developing a sense of confidence within ourselves. And we continue on this journey throughout our lives … which is why adults can learn as much as children when it comes to the ‘I can handle it’ lesson. As you will discover:

‘I can handle it’ is a powerful, yet simple, affirmation that can give us all … young and old … a wonderful feeling of confidence and peace of mind.

Here are some suggestions as to the best way to use this book:

• Read all of the stories on your own before you read them to your child. If, for any reason, you think a story will be upsetting to your child, then by all means, skip it and go on to the next one. You can always come back to it at another time if you choose. There are so many other stories which your child can learn from and enjoy.