Why does God hate me? Why am I sick?

Many children ask such questions, especially while lying sick in bed. The adults who help them-nurses, doctors, parents, Sunday-school teachers sometimes feel inadequate to meet the spiritual needs expressed.

Must we leave the challenges solely to hospital chaplains? Judith Allen Shelly says no. She believes that Jesus has given everyone a mandate to care. This book provides the tools to put our concern into action. It first describes the spiritual growth and development of children, from infants through teen-agers. Then it explains how to recognize and meet such needs as forgiveness, love and meaning when children and their parents express them in a variety of ways

This book derives from a task force of child-care professionals, sponsored by Nurses Christian Fellowship

Judith Allen Shelly, who authored major portions of this book and edited the remainder, is coauthor of Spiritual Care The Nurse's Role and author of Spiritual Care Workbook, Caring in Crisis and Dilemma: A Nurse's Guide for Making Ethical Decisions. She holds a BSN from the Medical College of Virginia and an M.A.R. from Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. Before working with Nurses Christian Fellow ship, she was employed as a hospital staff nurse.