What are your favorite books for young readers than help them learn about emotional regulation and self-control?
I love using books, stories and play to explore sensitive topics with children. These tools allow us to touch on tricky issues in ways that don’t feel too intense, too direct, and don’t cause our children to tip over into shame which they can sometimes do if we try to address an issue head on.
Some of my favorite books for young readers than can develop their understanding of emotional regulation and self-control include:
The Color Monster: A Pop-Up Book of Feelings (Anna Llenas)
This book supports emotional literacy by describing happiness, sadness, fear, love, and calm feelings.
The Boy with Big Big Feelings (Britney Winn Lee)
This book explores and normalizes the emotional challenges children face. It illustrates the importance of emotional expression.
The Rabbit Listened (Cori Doerrfeld)
A book that reminds children of the importance of turning to others when their feelings feel big.
The thing is, children need years of co-regulation before they can even begin to think about self-regulation and self-control, so I enjoy this selection of books because they develop a child’s emotional literacy, normalize emotional expression, and teach children that, when they are feeling big feelings, the best way to calm down is to turn to someone else who can support them through their emotional storms.
