When I'm Feeling Angry

My little guy is 20 months old. We have 4 of these books..Happy, Sad, Scared, Angry. He loves them and asks for them. I read them to him with alot of drama, so he understands. I describe what the main character is doing and point out everything in the page. There are a few illustrations that he looks for specifically and tells ME what is going on. (Eg. "Mama saying No No No"; He points to the bunny and says "He crying.") Tonight he was upset and whining about all sorts of things (very tired), so we went into his room, shut the door and I attempted to look at a book with him. He actually sought out one on these books. When he found it, he kept repeating something and making a weird noise. I finally found the page he was referring to and could not believe it! There's a page in the story where the main character takes deep breaths to calm down. THIS is what he was doing and saying. "Deep breath" and mimicking what that is! I'm online tonight looking to see if this author has more books. My little guy has always been very emotional. Looks people in the eyes alot and wants to know where everyone is. At 12 months, my aunt bumped her head when reaching for something under the kitchen table. He patted her head and gave her a hug. He's always been very in-tune with others, which is why I bought these books. They are great!

This is one of the feelings series of books by Tracey Maroney. They describe to small children what various feelings feel like and give examples of some things that might induce that feeling. Finally the book gives some ideas for what to do with the feelings. All feelings are dealt with as natural normal things that are OK and that everyone experiences. In the case of Anger, the text explains that feeling angry is OK, but letting our angry feelings hurt other people is not OK and some ways to handle the feelings constructively. At the conclusion of the book is a page of information for parents on how to help your child develop a healthy self esteem. It might be tempting to acquire the titles relevant to an issue a child you know is experiencing, however I would urge people to buy the whole set, as all children need to understand the range of feelings covered for balance. This is a really excellent series giving an opportunity for discussion in a neutral context, rather than arising from an instance of inappropriate behaviour. Highly recommended - I bought for my nephews, but I'll also be buying these for my granny shelf.

Nicely written & illustrated book dealing with anger on a child's level.