Children – both boys and girls, have to deal with various emotions as they grow up. We assume that they can verbalise feelings of anger, frustration, nervousness, happiness and many more. Most children have difficulty understanding their own feelings. They show us with temper tantrums, meltdowns and sometimes physical aggression. The truth is that these children do not know what to name those feelings especially when their feelings are too big to express.
Reading ‘The Boy with Big Big Feelings’, gave me the opportunity to discuss the vocabulary of how to express feelings. I love how the author, Britney Winn Lee helps to close the gender gap when she used a boy as the main character. It dispels the notion that boys are supposed to be seen as ‘tough’. It is equally important to validate the feelings of both boys and girls.
In this story the boy has big feelings and he expresses his feelings through crying at loud noises, getting mad when his block tower collapses and through bursts of happiness. His emotions are so intense, he takes on the feelings of all those around him. The boy couldn't handle his big feelings and he decided to keep it inside him and stopped talking about his emotions. Then, he spotted a girl who had really big emotions too and he could relate to her. At that moment the boy realised that he should not be afraid to express his powerful feelings because opening up his feelings will make him feel better.
I love books that address issues on emotions. I strongly believe that talking about other people's feelings to young children teaches empathy.... This will be my go-to book for teaching about feelings.