How Are You Feeling Today Baby Bear?: Exploring Big Feelings After Living in a Stormy Home

Baby Bear lives in a home with the Big Bears, and loves to chase butterflies and make mud pies - they make Baby Bear's tummy fill with sunshine. Then, one night, Baby Bear hears a big storm downstairs in the house and in the morning, Baby Bear's tummy starts to feel grey and rainy. How will such a small bear cope with these big new feelings? This sensitive, charming storybook is written to help children who have lived with violence at home to begin to explore and name their feelings. Accompanied by notes for adults on how to use each page of the story to start conversations, it also features fun games and activities to help to understand and express difficult emotions. It will be a useful book for social workers, counsellors, domestic violence workers and all grown-ups working with children.

Table of Contents:
1. Dear Child. 2. How Are You Feeling Today Baby Bear? 3. Page-by-page Guide to Using the Baby Bear Story. 4. Activities and Games to Encourage Children to Explore and Learn about Feelings.

About the Author :
Jane Evans is a Trauma Parenting Specialist and Freelance Trainer. This book has grown from her experiences working directly with children, young people and parents over many years as a respite foster carer, a domestic violence parenting worker, a registered child minder and a family support worker. She wrote the book in response to feedback from parents, carers and workers who wanted a sensitive story to support young children who have grown up around family violence. Laurence Jackson is an illustrator and qualified Art Psychotherapist. He lives in Wiltshire, UK where he enjoys illustrating and utilizing the arts as a tool for healing.

Review :
I love how this book tells the story of Baby Bear who is struggling with a mixture of feelings relating to domestic violence at home, and am confident that it will assist so many parents, children and child care practitioners post-domestic violence. It is an excellent resource, and very much needed. Being able to identify, discuss and label their feelings is an important part of children's personal, social and emotional development, and using this book will make children feel that adults understand and acknowledge their home life circumstances, in a sensitive way. I would fully recommend early years settings and schools to have a copy of Jane's book readily available to share and explore with children. Working in children's services one is always looking for resources to use with children who have experienced trauma in their lives. This sensitively written children's book can easily be used by professionals and carers to help children visit, consider and explore their feelings about their difficult life experiences. It is a well written story with the benefit of the "notes for use" which will aid the carer or worker in their task of helping the child unwrap complex feelings that are sometimes deeply hidden. A much needed resource which I believe will be very well received by the foster carers and adoptive parents with whom I work. A wonderful springboard story to help young children who have experienced domestic abuse identify and express their hidden feelings -- age appropriate and sensitive. Sadly, many children today live in homes where violence, anger and aggression are commonplace. They are often fearful, anxious and acutely aware of the tension at home. Finding the words to express their feelings is often difficult, just as it is for adults who recognise the signs but do not know how to intervene without distressing the child further. Jane Evan's book bridges this gap, helping the child to understand their feelings and convey this to others while at the same time providing the tools for adults to manage this process in a safe, loving and kind manner. This is an excellent book. It is both engaging and easy to understand, and the illustrations bring the story to life, reinforcing its messages. Children who have experienced domestic violence and trauma often find it difficult to express their feelings and talk about what has happened, which leaves them confused and upset. This book will help such children open up and feel less vulnerable, and I have no doubt that this will be an excellent resource for working with them. The author, Jane Evans has worked with families and children affected by domestic violence for many years and as a result of numerous requests from parents, carers and support workers she created this book to help adults trying to enable children to make sense of the feelings they experience when they were frightened and confused...I recommend this little book to all working with children affected by domestic violence whatever the setting. This picture book for younger children is not about physical child abuse... it is about a little bear whose parents are in a violent relationship and how this affects him... There is much about faces and how people's feelings are reflected in their expressions, and there is also a good section for parents and carers who are working with children experiencing violence on how to use the book. A valuable and much needed resource for professionals.... The story portrays a range of emotions and complex situations related to anger, fear and violence/ domestic abuse from a child's perspective... Useful questions are provided for professionals to explore and discuss Baby Bear's feelings and behaviour, and follow on activities are included at the back of the book It is beautifully written and designed by an experienced practitioner to help children aged two to six describe their feelings about domestic violence... It provides a short guide for adults on how to use the story. The author innovatively addresses key issues that children themselves raise in domestic abuse literature; a gentle storybook approach is used that experienced practitioners can use sensitively and creatively with very young children experiencing domestic violence... This book, written by a trauma parenting specialist, is a great resource for anyone working with or caring for young children post domestic violence.