Looking After Your Mental Health
Last month was mental health awareness month, so we’ve been taking a close look at children’s books that deal with this sensitive topic.
Fortunately, in this day and age, we understand that acknowledging and unpacking those big feelings that can overwhelm us all from time to time, is the most constructive way to ensure we have a positive relationship with our mental health. Once upon a time it was a subject to be avoided, now it’s a subject to learn about.
Starting with the youngest age group, let’s talk about picture books; we really love this special and poignant book, ‘When Sadness Comes to Call’ by Eva Eland. It is such a wonderfully accessible book about befriending sadness, and letting it in until it’s ready to leave.
The unique personification of this emotion makes the topic far more digestible for youngsters to comprehend, and the illustrations have a simplistic beauty to them.
Another picture book we love which is slightly more advanced, is ‘The Big Book of Feelings’ which is reminiscent of 'Michael Rosen’s Sad Book'. However, Mary Hoffman takes this idea and expands on it, alongside some fun and creative illustrations by Ros Asquith.
As children get a little older, school comes with a whole new array of stresses and emotions that are complex and hard to break down. This is where an amazing book called ‘The Unworry Book’ by Alice James comes in to play.
