Wellbeing Corner

Wellbeing Story Time

Picture story books often open up conversations and learning opportunities for what might be complex and hard-to-tackle concepts for children. This is true for conversations about mental health issues, which can at times feel awkward or be challenging to discuss. In this series, I will be introducing you to picture story books which will not only entertain but introduce children to a range of mental health issues which they or someone they know might experience.

A Shelter for Sadness

The heavy feeling of ‘sadness’ can be uncomfortable and unbearable at times. When this happens, we will often try to ignore it or fight it away using distractions or not acknowledging it’s there. This can work for a while, but often the ‘sadness’ can become bigger without us realizing it and overwhelm us when we become too weak to cope. In ‘A Shelter for Sadness’ we see how the main character accepts his sadness and makes space for it in his heart rather than ignoring it or fighting it away. In this way, he explores different ways he can ‘be’ with the ‘sadness’ without being brought down by the heaviness of it.

A Shelter for Sadness

After listening to the story, you could…

• Share stories of when you were sad as well. This way we normalize that ‘sadness’ is something we all experience and that it might look different from person to person.
• Practice meditation. Mediation helps us to be with our thoughts and feelings in the moment without getting stuck in them. By consistently and regularly practicing meditation, we can become better at just ‘being’ with uncomfortable feelings rather than fighting it away. There are many useful meditation apps!
• If your child is experiencing heavy and uncomfortable feelings, see if they can draw what the feeling looks like! It might look like the fuzzy ‘sadness’ character in the story or something completely different. By creating visual representation of these feelings, children can view the emotion more objectively and ‘be with it’ rather than being consumed by the feeling. 
• Make the above activity fun! Create whacky characters, make a sculpture of it out of clay or create a costume and act out the character and film it! There are many other creative ways to engage your child in conversations around emotions that might be difficult to just talk about.