AD | Gifted
Red Red Red by Polly Dunbar, published by Walker Books on 1st August. Available to purchase on Amazon.
Every toddler feels frustrated sometimes, every toddler gets ANGRY. They scream, they shout, they see RED RED RED. Now, in her singularly expressive style, the beloved Polly Dunbar brings us the perfect picture story book to share with those little ones overwhelmed by their emotions; a true-to-life, upbeat story about a toddler tantrum that offers a meditative way to calm them down. “Why not count to ten?” Mum suggests to her son. One … two … three…
Erin will be 4 in January and we are definitely not out of the tantrum and anger stage yet. Erin definitely doesn’t know how to deal with her emotions sometimes and I struggle to explain things to her or to help her calm down. I’m always looking for resources, help and advice so when we received Red Red Red I couldn’t wait to read it with Erin.
Red Red Red shows a small child trying to get something that is out of reach, hurting themselves in the process. The child then gets angry and sad at the situation and desperately wants the biscuit they couldn’t reach. The child doesn’t want to be comforted, doesn’t want to be told anything and doesn’t want to be picked up.
Reading the book with Erin, she was able to look at situations she had been in herself and we were able to talk about what was happening. The child in the story screams, cries and shouts as well as throwing themselves about the room. All of this is because of not knowing how to control or deal with some emotions or because the child doesn’t understand why they feel that way.
While the child is struggling to cope with what has just happened, the Mum in the story tries to get them to calm down by stopping and counting. This is something I try to do with Erin when she’s in a particularly bad way and I do find that it helps. Counting helps the child to think about something else and to let the Mum speak to them calmly about what just happened. After the child is back to being calm they are able to get what they wanted in the first place and enjoy that delicious cookie!
I know there will be so many parents to have gone through something similar to what happened in this book and sometimes, it’s so hard to deal with for both the parent and child. I think Red Red Red is a great book for anyone with children and it’s bound to at least help a little.
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Looks like a great book! Even more so if it matches you parenting style 😉
This sounds like a great book. Olivia is going through the ‘terrible twos’ right now so this seems very familiar, haha!
Looks like a fab book. My friends two girls would love to read red red red, so I will pass this on xx
I’m always on the lookout for book recommendations for my kids. Red Red Red sounds like an interesting to read. I’ll have to add it to my list!
My youngest is about to turn 5, but still struggles with controlling his anger. I think this would be great for him.