What's in your child's emotional toolkit? 5 lessons learned from "The Huge Bag of Worries"
What's in your child's emotional toolkit?
The world is in the thick of mental health challenges.
It is imperative that the younger generation is equipped enough to;
✨Rise above the taboo surrounding conversations about anxiety and mental health challenges.
✨Develop healthy coping strategies allowing them to process difficult emotions and move on.
✨Feel safe enough to seek the necessary help when required.
Published in 1994, Victoria Ironside's "The Huge Bag of Worries", our February book of the month for 4-7year olds hits the spot perfectly as a must read to help children develop their emotional toolkit.
Some days I wish I were a child again.
Books like these are a big reason why.
The next best thing is having one's child, like Kaitlyn below reading books like these when they are young.
Here are 5 lessons, we took away:
✅ Understanding emotions: Children learn to recognize and understand their emotions through the story's portrayal of the protagonist, Jenny, who carries around a huge bag of worries. By seeing Jenny's struggles with her worries, children can relate to her experiences and learn that it's okay to feel anxious or worried sometimes.
✅ Importance of sharing: There is emphasis on the importance of sharing our worries with others. When Jenny finally opens up about her worries to her mum, she feels a sense of relief. A great way for children that it's okay to talk about their feelings with trusted adults or friends and that doing so can help alleviate some of their anxiety.
✅ Problem-solving skills: As Jenny shares her worries, her mum helps her come up with practical solutions to address them thus teaching children problem-solving skills and encouraging them to think critically about ways to manage their own worries. Another great takeaway; there are often solutions or coping strategies available, even for big worries.
✅ Accepting one's imperfections: Through Jenny's journey, children learn that worries and imperfections are normal. No one is immune to worries, and it's okay to seek help when needed. Helps children develop self-compassion and acceptance of themselves, flaws and all.
✅ The power of a support network: Jenny's mum is there for her every step of the way, offering comfort, reassurance, and guidance highlighting the importance of supportive relationships in overcoming worries and encourages them to seek support when they need it.
There's more copies where that came from. Check here
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