Well, I started this one in March, 2020 and finished it in December, 2020, so goes 2020! I’m writing this post from the safety and comfort of my home as it feels like madness and chaos swirls around us with the whole world turned upside down as Covid-19 has brought our routines and normalcy to an abrupt halt. With dramatic changes and so much uncertainty, the feelings are BIG for children and adults alike. Being able to identify, accept, and appropriately express emotions is so important for coping. I love using books to work on emotional acceptance and coping skills and I’ve noticed a major increase in the titles coming out in recent years that address emotions, which is wonderful!
Almost any book presents a wonderful opportunity to help kids learn more about emotions, triggers, and how you can identify them in yourself and others. Some questions to help develop emotional intelligence while reading may include: How is that character feeling? How can you tell? What do you think made him/her feel that way? What does it feel like in your body when you have that feeling? Some children are much more comfortable talking about others’ emotions and not yet ready to talk about their own. Focusing on emotions of characters, friends or family increases their comfort with discussion of emotions in general, so they will eventually become comfortable acknowledging their own. Other children are happy to share their own emotions and you can extend the conversation with comments and questions like: Tell me about a time you felt that way. What happened? Where did you feel it in your body?
As far as books that directly work on developing feelings vocabulary, here are a few of my favorites.
