Worry Rhymes for School Times is a CBT informed book aimed at primary school children aged 7+, who may experience anxiety at school. 

 

I also think about how we prevent emotionally based school avoidance (also known as school refusal). How do we create a world where children can openly express their range of emotions and feel understood when school life starts to feel overwhelming.   

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We know  that speaking to young children about their emotions can pave the way to becoming emotionally healthy adults. 

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I think of this book as a way of navigating possible sources of stress at school, in a non-threatening way. We can often glean information from the pages that a child reads over and over, or perhaps asks most questions about. 

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Fostering curiosity about about school anxiety, and mental health more generally, is key in reducing shame and stigma sometimes associated with poor mental health.

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I have written this book to help young children to feel validated, heard and understood. To let them know they are not alone in worrying about PE, or dreading reading out loud in class. 

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The book is written for all the children who find various aspects of school life difficult such as:

• Arriving at school

• Getting the bus

• Reading out loud

• Going to the toilet

• Worrying about home

• Playground games

• Bullying

• PE

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In many ways, this is the book I wish I had read in the 1990s, when I was in primary school. Often young children feel isolated with their worries, and it is our job as adults to help children understand why they worry and more importantly perhaps, that we also worry. 

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The book is written in rhyme format and includes 25 rhymes, with top tips, facts and a mind mantra to accompany each rhyme.