Visiting Feelings

by Lauren Rubenstein

Overview

Do you have a feeling that's visiting today? Can you open your door and invite it to play? Visiting Feelings encourages children to treat their feelings like guests welcome them in, get to know them, and perhaps learn why they are visiting. Through this purposeful and mindful exploration, Visiting Feelings harnesses a young child's innate capacity to fully experience the present moment and invites children to sense, explore, and befriend all of their feelings with acceptance and equanimity. A Note to Parents provides more information about emotional awareness and mindfulness, plus practical advice and activities for introducing mindfulness into daily family routine.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781433813399
Publisher:	American Psychological Association
Publication date:	09/28/2013
Pages:	1
Sales rank:	53,329
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

Editorial Reviews

In a fast-paced world in which parents type away on iPhones and families rush from one activity to the next, this beautifully-illustrated book takes children on a magical journey that essentially invites them to stop and take a breath. How are they feeling? Rubenstein’s easy-to-read rhyming verses are catchy and fun. She gently encourages children to recognize, listen to, feel, and explore their emotions: Are they as light as a cloud and bright like the sun? Or do they grumble like a thunderstorm? The vibrant and whimsical illustrations playfully show readers how to acknowledge and welcome their feelings with open arms. For example, a child’s feelings may seem “heavy and huge like a grizzly bear” but seeing the boy in the illustration embrace the bear as they ride through the storm invites that child’s imagination to accept and work through feelings they otherwise may have ignored. In a “Note to Parents” at the end of the book, Rubenstein, a licensed clinical psychologist, talks caregivers through the importance of fostering this sense of “mindfulness” in their families, along with the tools to do so. In particular, she offers parents several practical, simple, and helpful activities that she categorizes as reflection exercises, mindful breathing, and cognitive exercises. Reviewer: Alison Johansen; Ages 3 up.

Children's Literature - Alison Johansen

02/01/2014
K-Gr 3—Through a poetic text, children are encouraged to identify and explore their emotions. "Do you have a feeling/that's visiting today?/Can you open your door/and invite it to play?/Can you ask what it wants,/and then check it out?" Readers are asked to embrace their feelings, to treat them like friends. Feelings are described through the use of similes and metaphors: "Is it sharp like stepping/on stones with bare feet?/Or smooth like ice cream-your favorite treat?" They are also personified: "Is it warm or cold?/Sour or sweet?/Does it shiver with fear/when the two of you meet?" The full-page, digitally created illustrations feature hand-painted textures and overlays. They have a dreamy quality as the feelings swirl around the youngsters in soft pastel colors. The end pages offer additional information for parents. The high-quality, appealing art will hold the attention of younger children, but discussion will be necessary for understanding this lyrical flow of moods. Paired with Wendy Cooper's A Is Amazing: Poems About Feelings (Frances Lincoln, 2013), the book has a lot of potential for teaching students how to describe their reactions to different situations. —Sandra Welzenbach, Villarreal Elementary School, San Antonio, TX

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