Growing Feelings

Children’s biggest emotions often come up about friends and other kids. In this funny and useful book, authors Eileen Kennedy-Moore and Christine McLaughlin help kids understand and cope with feelings in ways that build strong friendships.

Everyone likes the idea of “best friends forever,” but friendships can be complicated, and they often involve dealing with difficult feelings. Almost all children have experienced feeling shy at a party where they don’t know anyone, furious during an argument with a friend, or sad when a friend moves away. Because kids care a lot about friends, they often have big emotional responses about them.

This entertaining and empowering book addresses a wide range of feelings children have about friends and other kids, including worry, guilt, jealousy, compassion, and gratitude. Through relatable cartoon stories, practical, research-based coping strategies, plus silly commentary from a cat and dog who have their own (questionable) ideas about what might help, kids get a hands-on approach that they can put into practice.

Child psychologist Eileen Kennedy-Moore and parenting and health writer Christine McLaughlin show kids how to recognize the Feelings Story behind common friendship rough spots, demonstrating the links between events, thoughts, emotions, actions, and social reactions through the situational cartoons, so children can clearly see how their reactions fuel or resolve relationship problems. And going far beyond a simplistic and unrealistic “don’t worry, be happy, think positive only” approach, Growing Feelings offers a nuanced perspective on feelings about friends. It emphasizes that all emotions are useful and guides children in how to empathize with others’ reactions, as well as how to understand, manage, and communicate in healthy ways about their own feelings.

Caring friendships are a protective factor for children’s mental health. Giving kids the tools they need to deal with the feelings about friends is a powerful step toward protecting and improving their well-being.

Eileen Kennedy-Moore, PhD, is an internationally published author, psychologist, and mother of four. She is a trusted expert on parenting and children’s feelings and friendships who is frequently quoted in major magazines and newspapers and has been a featured guest on national radio and television shows. Her books have been translated into seven languages. She is a professor for the Great Courses, serves on the advisory board for Parents magazine, and writes the popular Growing Friendships blog for Psychology Today, that has over 4 million views (www.psychologytoday.com/blog/Growing-Friendships). She also has a website for kids called DrFriendtastic.com. Dr. Kennedy-Moore has a private practice in Princeton, New Jersey, (lic. #35SI00425400), where she works with adults, children, and families. www.EileenKennedyMoore.com

Christine McLaughlin is a prolific freelance writer, editor, and author, whose work focuses primarily on parenting and health. She has published several hundred articles in national magazines and high-traffic websites like WebMD and WomansDay.com. She is also author of seven books including The Dog Lover’s Companion to Philadelphia (Perseus), Philadelphia (Twin Lights Publishers), BAYADA (Bayada), and coauthor of Growing (Beyond Words/Simon & Schuster), the American Red Cross: Dog First Aid and Cat First Aid books, and the Dementia Society of America’s The 7 Steps to Take in the Face of Dementia (to come in 2021). She and her husband live in the Philadelphia area with their three children and loveable golden retriever. ChristineMcLaughlin.net