What is Your Superpower? The Children’s Book “Playing Together” Helps Children Discover Their Superpowers

The book helped me as a parent to explain and show my child that there is nothing wrong with the special shoes with a splint that he has to wear. When we finished the story about Karin, B reached for the shoes for the first time and wanted to put them on by himself.

That night he fell asleep in them. Something in his gaze told me that he finally understood. He realised that we all have different needs and it was his right now is to wear those shoes to be healthy. That was his superpower.”

– B’s mother.

“A little over four years ago, my son was born. Immediately after his birth, we had to face a problem called bilateral equinovarus, or in simple terms, a curvature of the foot from the ankle inwards. Treatment included a cast, Achilles ligament surgery and special orthotics.

At the age of two months, B had seemingly perfect feet, but the treatment was not over. He still had to start wearing special orthopaedic shoes, which B had to wear 23 hours a day for the first 3 months and then 13 hours a day until he was 5-6 years old. Everything went well, even wearing these orthoses did not prevent B from rolling over on his stomach on his own at the age of four months.

At five months he started trying for a handstand, at six months he made his first attempts to crawl, and at seven months he stood upright for the first time while holding the sectional. Everything was going well, but the older B got, the harder it was to put his shoes on while he slept. He was used to them and knew we would put them on, but he didn’t understand why. He could see that mum wasn’t sleeping in those shoes and this caused him to refuse to put them on. I realised that the shoes were weighing down his feet and that it was hard to move around in them, but I also realised that the treatment was long term and we shouldn’t give up. 

I started explaining, showing him children’s pictures, but he was still too young and did not understand me. We started putting his shoes on for naps only after he fell asleep, but it reduced the wearing time considerably. With the mandatory 13 hours a day B only wore them for 10 hours. This bothered me a lot, although our orthopaedic surgeon assured me that even this number of hours was enough in his case, as B has elastic joints. I did not give up trying to explain and talk to him about this topic, because he should know about his special feet and protect them from injury from a very young age. I also spent a long time looking for suitable children’s literature, as B likes to read before bedtime.

About a month ago we got our new favorite book “Playing Together”. It’s the first book that has such a long story, and I didn’t expect B to be so interested in it at first. I thought he would get bored quickly or not understand it since he is only four, but he listened to it with such interest that we read it in one sitting. As I read it, I explained and gave him an example, his special little feet and how wearing his magic shoes, made them stronger and stronger so he could run the fastest of all.

We talked about superpowers and how everyone is good at a different area. The book helped me as a parent to be able to explain and visually show my child that there is nothing scary about the shoes he has to wear. When we finished the story about Karin, B reached for his shoes for the first time and wanted to put them on himself. He fell asleep with them on that night. Something in his look told me he finally understood. He understood that we all have different needs and his right now is to wear these shoes to be healthy.

That was his superpower. From the moment this book entered our home and became part of our daily routine, B no longer has a problem wearing his magic shoes. He now proudly puts them on himself, he still needs to learn to sleep on his own, but that’s another book idea.”– B’ mother.

“Playing Together” is the first story in a series about Karin, Elephant and superpowers that transports young and old readers into the world of childhood emotions and experiences. The storylines weave Karin, Elephant and their friends into seemingly ordinary everyday situations. However, there is nothing ordinary in a child’s world. Every day is filled with the challenge of getting to know and accept yourself, finding your strengths, being accepted in the group, and having friends.

The children’s book is published by Karin Dom and can be found both on site with us and in our Family Shop, the social enterprise platform Darpazar.

The book is now also distributed in bookstores and partners in Varna (Pibooks, Funsmarttoys) and Sofia (Fox books café).

The author of the booklet “Playing Together” Virginia Vasileva is a psychotherapist and child psychologist at Karin Dom Foundation. In her practice she combines established and innovative therapeutic methods and approaches for working with children with developmental difficulties, as well as tools for psychotherapeutic support of children and adults. Virginia also recently wrote “A Guide to Helping the Parent” for families with children 0 to 3, which is also distributed by Karin Dom.

The book is beautifully illustrated by artist Vladislava Vidinova (Vladi Vidal) – an illustrator who has worked with Karin Dom on several pro bono projects. Vladi has been involved in a number of large-scale projects, has worked for major international companies, and has had several children’s books with illustrations published in Bulgaria and abroad.

This therapeutic tale, besides being fun for children, is also a guide for the parent, who through it can in an accessible and interesting way present to the young child how to overcome their fears, discover their superpowers and those of other children, accept children with different abilities and better understand the world around them.

To make reading easier – the font used in the book is Adys – the first Bulgarian font for people with dyslexia, created by Kristina Kostova.

We wish a pleasant reading to all the little heroes with big superpowers!

Karin Dom was founded 27 years ago by an inspiring person – Mr. Ivan Stancioff. He named the organization after his cousin Karin, who was born with cerebral palsy. By conveying the historical and inspiring facts surrounding Karin’s real life, we have created a set of therapeutic tools and practices for early social-emotional learning for inclusion, empathy and self-belief. To support the inclusion and easier understanding of children with different abilities, we created a Karin doll and her friend the Elephant – a symbol of friendship.

The toys can be purchased from Karin Dom’s Family Online Store.

Play and read with the child! Share the good moments of childhood!

Children perceive the world with different eyes – wide open to life and its diversity.