Kids. Emotions. Lots of emotions. BIG emotions. As a Christian parent, how do we bring kids, their emotions, and God together? While we’re wanting to pull out our hair, we quickly forget that God made our kids to develop through their different stages. This includes stages with big emotions. God isn’t surprised by them! But how can we point anxious, angry, or hyper kids to God? Champ Thornton, author of numerous books for kids, teens, and families, has written a nice book for kids ages 1–4 on the 5-4-3-2-1 anxious coping method.
The book reinforces counting backwards from five and having kids listening to their five senses. Kids can quickly feel afraid, mad, confused, scared, or sad over things that seem completely normal to us (because we go through them every day). Maybe they’re afraid of going to school without Mommy or Daddy. Maybe they’re nervous about talking to adults. Maybe they’re angry that you broke the banana before you gave it to them. Whatever the case, the mamma bear in the book tells her anxious son that his feelings count to her. They matter! She doesn’t roll her eyes and try to ignore them. She walks with her son, helping him to understand the world around him through looking at shapes, feeling objects in the house, listening to nature’s music, smelling baked apple pies, mowed grass, and even skunks, and tasting carrots, honey, sandwiches, and cupcakes.
The mamma bear encourages her son that even though he might not understand all that is going on inside, God does! God knows her son’s heart and all of his fears, worries, sorrows, and joys. Not only does mamma bear care about her son’s feelings, but God does too! We see that it becomes easier for our kids to trust that God cares about their feelings when we care about their feelings. If we just brush our kids off or get angry at them over their lack of self-control, it can be harder (though not impossible) to understand just how much God cares for them and their feelings.
Recommended?
I remember being a kid, but I don’t remember BIG emotions. I remember being hyper, I remember many times I was shy, nervous, or anxious. But there is so much about being a kid I simply can’t remember. As a father of four kids, I am relearning what I thought I knew about emotions and how to help my kids understand what they feel in their God-given and God-created bodies. God has given us fingers to count with and arms to hug with, lungs for deep breathes and skin that can feel softness, cold, and slimy (bananas). He has given us our bodies, and while we train our kids in regulating their emotions we can point them to the good God who gave them those good (and currently unwieldy) emotions. And in those moments where things feel too great and big, God is with them all the way.
Lagniappe
- Author: Champ Thornton
- Illustrator: David Creighton-Pester
- Boardbook: 24 pages
- Age Range: 1–4 years
- Publisher: B&H Kids (August 15, 2023)
Buy it on Amazon or from B&H Kids
Disclosure: I received this book free from B&H Kids. The opinions I have expressed are my own, and I was not required to write a positive review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html.
Amazon Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
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