We often talk about the importance of understanding and accepting children's emotions and recommend books that can help us learn an important skill of parental empathy. We also review children's literature on the feelings of toddlers, preschoolers, schoolchildren and adolescents. But what about ourselves, parents? After all, our feelings are also important! Zhenya Bernhardt, creator of Gone with the Childbook, a book blog about children's and teenage literature, has compiled a selection of publications that tell children about the feelings of adults.
We all feel sad at times. An adult, more often than not, can return to normal quite quickly. To do this, he just needs to listen to himself a little, to understand why he is sad and what he wants.
But things get more complicated when you have children. Taking time for yourself is no longer so easy. And the child also strongly demands attention, feels that something is wrong. At such moments, you do not need to pull yourself by the corners of your lips and squeeze out a smile. Sadness is normal. It is only important to remember that any of our states is transmitted to children. Children may feel guilty about your condition. Therefore, it is imperative to discuss your feelings with them, to talk to the child.
I'll tell you which books to look for help.
Petson is sad
Author: Sven Nordqvist
Publisher: Belaya Vorona
Age: 3+
The first such book that caught my attention was Petson's Sadness by Sven Nordqvist.
An absolutely amazing book in my opinion. Nordqvist so expressively showed a bad mood, sadness, depression (whatever you want to call it) with illustrations!
This book is also interesting in that it gives a solution to how to cope with the condition, the child and the parent go along the path together and everything ends well.
5 minutes of rest
By Jill Murphy
Publisher: Polyandriya
Age: 2+
The second book in today's collection is not so fun, but it will help you to discuss with your child that you, like the elephant mother, need five minutes of silence, and show him his behavior from the outside.
A tired mother of three children is squeezed out - she is not happy with the children at breakfast, even in the morning, which means that fatigue is not the first day. God, how familiar! So she tries to snatch herself 5 minutes of silence with breakfast in the bathroom. Well, less than 5 minutes later, the elder bursts into the bathroom, he needs to demonstrate his musical success.
The second one comes running after him, my mother seems to say “no”, but she was faced with an iron argument “but you spent your time with the elder! So you love him more,”she agreed and listened to the book reading. The youngest jumped straight into the tub.
Nocturnal birds
Author: Turmud Haugen
Publisher: Scooter
Age: 8+
And here is the third book about depression. And, importantly, if a book deals with a complex topic, the author of the book is 99 percent Scandinavian. This time - a Norwegian.
Here we are faced with a real depressive state of the father of the protagonist: he is lost in life, does not have what he loves, and work is not only not happy, it makes him shiver. At the same time, the father cannot force himself to visit his psychotherapist and is angry at any mention of drugs.
His depression transforms into nocturnal birds that live in the closet of his son - Yuakim - and which every night want to break free and attack the family.
Interestingly, the book does not end with the father's wonderful healing. Everything is also bad, but. tomorrow will be tomorrow. There is hope for a new day.