"When little people are overwhelmed by big emotions, it's our job to share our calm, not join their chaos." (L.R. Knost)
Children often experience big emotions that they are not always equipped to deal with. Today's societies focus on academic excellence has left little room for children to learn and fully understand emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence encompasses awareness, understanding, and the ability to express and manage emotions. Helping children to build emotional intelligence gives them the ability to either learn to make changes to address a problem, thus engaging problem-focused coping skills, or explore emotional coping strategies to tolerate and control a problem if a change is not feasible.
Feelings serve a purpose and have evolved over time to serve us in specific situations. Letting children express and feel their emotions becomes the first piece of emotional intelligence because they have to be aware of their feelings before they can move on to learning how to properly express and control them. Building these emotional skills from a young age is a major indicator of future success. The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study conducted over 15 years in New Zealand brought extensive data to light that showed children who had a high amount of self-control (one aspect of emotional intelligence) fared better in life overall. The children were happier, healthier, more accomplished, and less likely to have a criminal record as adults than those that scored lower in self-control. Knowing how impactful a solid foundation in emotional intelligence can be for our children is important but it is also important to have resources available to help teach and reinforce strong emotional intelligence.
Kidzinc offers the award-winning line of WorryWoo Monsters books and plush animals. Created by Andi Green, the WorryWoos help children embrace and understand their emotions and develop emotional intelligence through play, reading, and discussion.
The WorryWoo books cover a wide range of topics that are often hard to help children understand - from greed and envy to insecurity and loneliness. Each story covers one of these topics and ends with a positive and uplifting message designed to open up discussion and communication between parents, teachers, caregivers, and the children they care for.
"The Monster Who Wanted it All" introduces the adorable, yellow monster, Zelly, who becomes so focused on the things that others have, that he doesn't notice all of the wonderful things right in front of him! Parents can spend some time discussing with their children how caring and sharing are related and how important it is to focus on the great and positive things within their lives. Then they can introduce Zelly and read his story! Having the plush to hold on to gives the child a tactile object to relate the story to and a physical object that parents can refer to as a reminder of the lessons learned in the story.
Often parents may try to use screen time or technology to calm their children when they are feeling a particularly intense emotion but the American Academy of Pediatrics has warned that using media to calm emotions may lead to a child having difficulty engaging emotional regulation for themselves as they grow.
This book series along with its plush companions are a great way to help your child begin to gain that understanding and awareness over their emotions in a safe, media-free setting.
The WorryWoos also give parents the opportunity for one-on-one interaction with their child and the time to really discuss and learn what their child understands about their emotions and where they may need a little more help.
Kidzinc is dedicated to the development of young minds, and assisting you to develop your kids to their fullest potential, through books, toys, games, puzzles and interactive play! Our purpose is to provide you with the best educational and developmental products, sourced from all corners of the world. Kidzinc carries a full line of WorryWoos plush and books available for shipping worldwide.