Children's Mental Health Week

 Mental Health Week - Monday 5th - Sunday 11th February 2024

I used Mental Health Week to start looking at Bear's emotions and feelings as we are firmly in the stage of big feelings in this house. I dug out some picture books and some non-fiction titles about feelings along with an invitation to play with some stress balls and feelings monsters.

Bear had seen most of the books before, but I'd kept one or two back so that there was the interest of something new to draw him in.

I paired this month's Book of the Month with the idea of mental health and we used this as a starting point to talk about how people feel and how we should treat the people around us. Wolf and Bear is a stunning book, which will get its own post shortly. 

We used this book multiple times over the course of the month though and it was interesting to see how Bear reacted to the Bear in the book and the idea of depression that it alludes to. 

One of my favourite books about emotions is The Colour Monster and this sorting activity is one that we have used before. We read the book, and the new book which I'd kept to one side ready for this week, and then we discussed what kinds of things made Bear feel the specific emotions as he sorted the coloured pompoms into their respective monsters.

The Cub had a go with this one too, a great way to encourage fine motor skills as there was a pair of tweezers and a couple of other tools to pick up the pompoms.

As a week at the pace of a preschooler and a toddler goes by in the blink of an eye when they are constantly moving at a thousand miles a minute, I decided to continue the theme of mental health and emotions across the course of the month, hence the late post for this one. We have continued to read books with the right themes, use non-fiction books to learn new ways of understanding and managing our big feelings, and we made our own emotions wheels, using the time to discuss Bear's big emotions. 

I have been heavily concentrating on the idea that all of Bear's emotions are valid, and that he is allowed to feel them, it's the way that he deals with them that can get him into bother. He tends to explode quickly, and with his little brother in the mix, who is usually the cause of the frustration, he is also the one who cops for the explosion. Bear is quick to lash out and push The Cub away when he thinks that he is going to get in the way or mess up his play. Nine times out of ten, the issue is perceived even though it isn't there and The Cub just wants to get past him or get to his toys, but Bear doesn't see things that way until it is too late.

We are working on thinking before we react, and more than that, listening to Mummy as I often intervene if I can see it heading the wrong way, but Bear tends to ignore me and continue down the road to an explosion. I am trying to get him to understand that Mummy isn't trying to ruin the fun, she can just see it happening and is trying to help.

Overall, we've had an interesting month, and I hope that Bear retains at least some of what we've learnt. The one thing that I had intended to do, that we haven't actually gotten around it, was set up a calm basket for him to use when he is feeling a little overstimulated. He had one when he was a little younger but tended to just use it to play rather than for its intent. So this is something that I will look into in the coming weeks as we continue on our path of learning how to deal with our emotions.

What strategies do you use to help littles manage their own emotions? 

Momma Bear x

Our list of books

The Colour Monster & The Colour Monster: The Feelings Doctor by Anna Llenas

Feelings by Libby Walden

All About Feelings by Felicity Brooks

How I Feel by Becky Goddard-Hill

Kind illustrated by Sarah Ward

Hippo is Happy, Squirrel is Sad, Sheep is Scared & Alligator is Angry by Rosie Greening