Feelings & The Last Day

The last day of my 30th year in education. What a thrill!

Classic counseling question might go like this:

How do you feel about that?

To that I would answer:  Happysad.

Yep, happiness sprinkled with a dash of sadness.

Enter Visiting Feelings by Lauren Rubenstein.

Have you seen this beautiful book?

It's the perfect bibliotherapy resource

for helping young learners 
understand, 
process, 
accept

and embrace 
their feelings.

Here's what I know:

Feelings come out one way or another.

They are a gift from above ... and we must acknowledge them.

When children can't express their feelings appropriately,

they come out as behaviors we might not want or like.

So we have the onus of teaching them how to feel.

Not what to feel; how to feel.

To not run away from feelings, but to embrace them.

To own them. To talk to them.

To find out where they came from

and what they want.

To let them stay as long as they're needed.

And them to send them packing.

Our of our new third graders this spring told her dad that

she liked her new school because "they're allowed to have feelings here and they're allowed to talk about them!" Such a bittersweet commentary because, are there really places where children aren't allowed to emote?

Anyway, this groundbreaking book with its poetic rhyme

will help children better understand the gift of their feelings. 
And who wouldn't want that?

Read Roxanne's review {here}. And Pat's review {here}.

Then there's the Anxiety Free Child blog review {here}.

I'm also SO, so excited about the Linda Eder song
If I Had My Way, so I'll launch you into greatness with this:

Here's a summer challenge for you - 
click the inquiry for more information:

How are you feeling today?