In My Heart

THEME - EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

I get asked a lot about 'feelings books' to support children in learning and managing their emotions. The Colour Monster is my favourite ) but this is a sweet book too and describes several more extra emotions than my monster pal does.

In My Heart describes a feeling on one page and on the opposite side, the cut out heart shapes get smaller and smaller until the end of the book. The emotion descriptions are simple but effective and definitely provide some conversation starters for younger children.

The only one I have issue with is the description of a broken heart (that has been hurt by mean words) being able to be healed with extra kisses. For some children, inappropriate physical touch has caused some of their distress in the first place and also, I think kisses being able to quickly and simply heal a broken heart can minimise the extent of any emotional distress. That being said, it is a conversation starter about the role of other people in helping you when you feel hurt. As long as you are mindful of the child you are reading the book with and scaffold your conversations appropriately, it doesn't have to rule out the rest of the book which is really quite lovely.