A mum has revealed the remarkable impact of reading to her toddler about emotions, a change she admits she was not fully prepared for.
Bella Firman (@bellafirman), 23, from Leicester, in the U.K., shared a video on TikTok in which she reads to her son, Luca, about feelings. The clip has garnered more than 46,000 likes and over 2.4 million views.
“As any 2 year old, he really struggled to regulate his emotions, which is completely normal for his age. However, I wanted to help him understand these big feelings, so I found some emotion-related books on TikTok Shop,” Firman told Newsweek.
Now, nearly 3 years old, Luca has shown what Firman called “amazing” progress. She said: “If he starts to feel angry or sad, he will tell me, and we will work through it together before those feelings turn into something bigger.”
Among the books in the bundle Firman bought, Luca’s favorite is The Big Angry Roar. This is about a lion cub who is trying to find out how to let his anger out effectively.
“By the end of the book, he realizes the best way is to do deep breathe,” Firman added.
The mom said that, now when Luca feels himself becoming angry, “he takes himself to the side and does a few deep breaths to calm himself down.”
Firman added that the book has taught not only Luca a way to calm himself, but also her a way to calm him when she sees he is getting a little bit frustrated with something.
Experts agree social-emotional learning books play a powerful role in helping young children express themselves. Experts at Scholastic say such books help kids gain the vocabulary to describe their feelings, improve self-awareness, and learn strategies for handling negative emotions.
The reaction online has been enthusiastic. TikTok users wrote about their own stories and recommendations.
One commenter, Codie, said: “The color monster is an amazing book about emotions. We use it at the nursery I work at and really helps the children understand how they’re feeling and open up to us adults more.”
Giulia added: “It’s so true, I remember it from when I started reading to my son about emotions when he was a little boy.”
Stacey said: “Tiny tantrum is good, my daughter loved the book and wanted us to read it before bed every night! Her temper tantrums were defo minimize.”
Another, Ziggy, posted: “Yes! We talk about emotions all the time. We have to help them understand and manage them, not tell them off for them.”
Do you have any viral videos or pictures that you want to share? We want to see the best ones! Send them in to life@newsweek.com and they could appear on our site.
Read the full article here
