The book has been designed to help young children recognise and deal with difficult emotions.
An Irish author has created a free mental health ebook to help young children recognise and deal with difficult emotions such as sadness, anger and worry and having read it back to back numerous times we can see why it is a massive hit with both parents and kids.
Just thinking back to the early days of lockdown, my brain goes fuzzy. You see I’m a mum of five, and a majority of my little ones lead an active lifestyle between playing out with their friends to the never-ending birthday party invites and of course their extracurricular activities. So like a majority of youngsters once that was put to a halt, and they were told no more, stay in, stay safe - all hell broke loose. They didn’t cope very well, especially my little boy. He took it very hard, almost personal and cried solidly for about three weeks. He missed his family. His friends. His freedom. And other than reassuring him that he would see them all again soon, I didn’t know what to do.
That’s when I discovered this incredible resource that normalises children’s mental health, and I had to share it. It has proved invaluable in my home in recent months and deserves all the recognition it can get.
Under The Mask Inside Feelings is the brainchild of Emma Cahill, a primary school teacher who decided to create four lovable characters to help children through the difficult times and to remind them that ‘It’s ok to feel EXACTLY how you feel’.
Unmasking kids' mental health, the online download follows the adventures of a little boy named Olly who is feeling slightly down. He’s angry, sad and worried since he’s been in lockdown. And unsure of how to handle or deal with these new emotions he calls upon three superheroes Blaze, Crash and Rustle to help out.
The short and colourful rhyming story explores different emotions, all while providing practical and straightforward tips and tricks to help young children overcome emotional difficulties using their unique superpowers. Powers that all kids have.
For example, Crash reminds Olly to talk about his feelings not to keep them bottled up, to be creative and that things will go back to normal eventually. He also tells Olly to think positively, even if everything feels very strange.
As well as the powerful coping mechanisms, the book also provides an activity sheet packed to the brim with ideas if boredom creeps in especially over the long summer months which includes creative topics like poetry, science, history and drama.
So if your child is currently struggling, download the Wexford natives free ebook direct from her website and help your child identify three key emotions and the effective strategies to help them too.
