Helping School Age Kids Identify and Express Emotions

Do your kids ever seem off-kilter when they come home from school or pre-school but can’t tell you what’s wrong? Do you find it difficult to help them express their feelings?

Ava Parnass has written two books to help parents navigate those early expressions of emotions and help kids work through issues like hurt feelings and missing mommy and daddy. (See all of her extraordinary work here).

“Where Did My Good Mood Go?” introduces Mushy and her book of emotions, a useful tool in helping children identify what they are feeling. In the story, when a child is having a bad day and cannot find their good mood, Mushy gives both the child and the parents a way to understand and express feelings. Written in clever rhymes with extraordinary illustrations by Kate Kiminski, this book is perfect for your pre-K – 2^nd grader who needs a little help identifying and explaining how they feel when they’ve had a bad day. Sometimes, a child just needs someone to listen and understand the insecurity that comes from being away from mommy and daddy all day.

“My Feelings Are Hungry” is a children’s story that concentrates on exploring the feelings that young children do not always know how to express. The story begins with Rebecca returning from a very bad day at school. As the day goes on those bad feelings only seem to get worse, and nothing will make things better. With Rebecca feeling unloved and confused by so many different emotions that she has no idea how to respond, she resorts to what many of us do when our emotions get out of control: eating tremendous amounts of unhealthy food. However, once Mushy, a helpful friend, walks her through her emotions, she discovers that talking about the day feels much better than eating.

This book urges children to sit down and speak to their “grown-ups” and others throughout the day who hurt their feelings. It is a great tool for parents in helping their children understand their emotions and reminds mothers that sometimes all their children need is reassurance that they are loved.

Both of these books are great for reassuring kids that it is ok to miss someone and to have bad feelings.

Ava Parnass has been a child and family psychotherapist for over 15 years and a strong advocate for a comprehensive approach to a healthy lifestyle. She developed these products entirely with the children in mind to help them better communicate their thoughts and feelings to their parents and loved ones in order to grow up in a healthier environment.

Ava Parnass provided me with free digital copies of the books in order for our team to be able to review them. No monetary compensation was provided, and the opinions contained in this review are genuine.