Assertive Alex is a great story to read to your children, to help establish the importance of being a self-advocate. Advocating for yourself is a great skill to have at any age. I wrote this story because when I was a child, I always followed the crowd, and I stayed quiet. This was even if I wanted something completely different. I did not learn to self-advocate, until I was in my first-year teaching (anxiety is the biggest to blame). Hopefully, after reading about Alex's journey you will be able to see how important self-advocation is, even if you need to be assertive. Your happiness in life is just as important as anyone else's.