Raising Girls

7 Books to Help Girls Overcome Anxiety, Fear + Worry + Other Feelings

March 19, 2019 / 10 Comments

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My oldest daughter, my 5-year-old, is a worrier. She always has been ever since she was a baby + toddler. I see it creeping into the 3-year-old too now. We checked out some of these books to help her work through some of her worry + fear.

Toddlers + kids are a ball of emotions. They are learning what feelings are + how to deal with them — whether it is being angry, sad, frustrated, or something else. I’ve read all of these books to my girls + I think it has helped them learn about their emotions + given them some tools to deal with them — even as young girls.

In most of these books (but not all) the main character is a girl. I think this helps girls to relate to what’s going on even more so than if it was a boy (although I don’t think if the characters were/are boys that they totally dismiss the lessons).

1. Wilma Jean the Worry Machine

Both of my older girls loved this book. It rhymed + I think the oldest one could relate a lot to what Wilma Jean worried about. My oldest has overcome it now, but she had some anxiety around starting Kindergarten this year. This book touches on worrying about things at school. I think it truly helped her to deal with some of the fear + overcome it.

2. What to Do When You Worry Too Much

This book is another great option for kids to learn how to deal with worry + to overcome the battle of worrying. We read it at the start of Kindergarten so I think it might have been a little too over my daughter’s head at that point. I do think the book does a great job of giving real-world examples + activities kids can do (it has some workbook style activities in it) to take them step-by-step through the process of saying goodbye to their worry.

3. My Many Colored Days

My Many Colored Days is a Dr. Seuss book about feelings. It uses colors to explain emotions or feelings that young kids might have. It’s a great book for letting kids know that everyone has sad days, happy days + other kinds of days — + that having all of these days (feeling all of these emotions) is A-OK.

4. In My Heart

Another great book that walks kids through all of the feelings they experience. Beyond the lessons the book holds, the illustrations are fun for kids. The HUGE rainbow die-cut heart on the front cover that goes all the way through the book is a big hit, too.

5. Bernice Gets Carried Away

My 3-year-old especially enjoys this book. It’s about a cat who is having a bad day + what she does to turn her bad day around. A series of events happen to Bernice that create a bad day in her mind. Then, Bernice springs into action to create a series of events that turn her bad day into a good day. It’s great at illustrating how you have control over your feelings + can do something about them.

6. The Way I Feel Sometimes

This book is more like a series of poems that tackle various situations + how you might feel about these situations. Being mad, scared, worried or how a child might feel when there is a new baby in the house are but some of the emotions covered in this book. This is a book that you can read from beginning to end or pick + choose the feelings you might want to tackle with your child.

7. Grumpy Pants

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this book + so do my girls. It’s about a grumpy penguin. (I LOVE penguins so it might be one of the reasons I like this book so much). He can’t seem to shake off his grumpiness + he isn’t even sure why he is grumpy. Then, he does a bunch of things he likes to do like take a cold bath, drink hot cocoa, read his favorite book + fall asleep with his favorite teddy bear. He also tells himself that tomorrow is another day + it’ll be a better day.

If you’ve read any of these books with your kid, what did you + the kids think? Are there any other books you’d suggest for kids?

XOXO, Kristie
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