Dear Me: Letters to Myself, For All of My Emotions

Product Description

Dear Me, Letters to Myself For All of My Emotions teaches young children how to recognize and manage the emotions they feel throughout the day. Through a series of letters that begin with, “Dear Me,” a young child writes down his feelings. These letters allow him to recognize that he can change how he feels while practicing self-kindness and compassion.

Dear Me serves as a guide to help kids learn about expressing feelings, understanding those feelings, and then deciding what to do about them in ways that are healthy, helpful, and kind. The book models several approaches for parents, but, more directly, models how children can develop the social-emotional skill of managing emotions by naming emotions, journaling, and mindful breathing.

Beautiful illustrations support this empowering message designed to help children understand and appreciate all of their emotions.

Dear Me, Letters to Myself For All of My Emotions teaches children:
– Self-love
– Self-regulation
– Self-advocacy
– Managing emotions
– Empathy
– Journaling
– Mindful breathing

Review

“It’s vital that children learn to identify and express their feelings, and to do so without shame. This engaging, lovely book enables parents to guide their children in doing just that. It gives me hope that more children, rather than running away from feelings, will work to understand them and bring them into their relationships in healthy ways. I highly recommend this book.” 
 

Richard Weissbourd, psychologist, lecturer at Harvard, and the Faculty Director of Making Caring Common, a project of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

”
Dear Me
 is a great way for kids and parents to practice inner awareness, insight, reflection, and empowers kids to have agency in moments of challenge. Never has there been a more important time to proactively promote tools for mental health and well-being that can be used throughout the lifespan.” 
 
Dr. Tina Payne Bryson
, New York Times best-selling author of
The Whole-Brain Child and No-Drama Discipline

“Children are definitely defined by their experiences and as adults we write on the slate of who they are and will become. In the wonderful picture book, Dear Me, author, educator, columnist, and broadcast journalist Donna Tetreault does so with great clarity as she helps children develop a sense of control and self-determination about their emotions. She turns elusive abstractions into very understandable constructs children can really relate to. Her loving and compassionate nature graces every page. Well done, Donna.” Dr. Phil McGraw

“Empathy is the immensely human trait that helps children understand that we are all humans who share the same fears and concerns and deserve to be treated with dignity. Dear Me teaches children how to have empathy for themselves and that in turn allows them to be empathetic to others. I LOVE this book. How I wish every parent had a copy – what a difference it would make in our children’s lives.” Michele Borba, Ed.D., author of Thrivers: The Surprising Reasons Why Some Kids Struggle and Others Shine  

“Dear Me is a beautifully inclusive book in which a young boy goes on a journey to name, validate, and regulate the feelings he experiences on a daily basis. Thoughtful, practical, and fun, the guidance in these pages will strengthen our kids’ emotional toolbox and prepare them to thrive.”
— Julie Lythcott-Haims, NYT bestselling author

About the Author

Donna Tetreault is a national television parenting expert and journalist. She has been a featured guest on Dr. Phil, and the Emmy Award-winning show The Doctors. As a former elementary school teacher, she believes in teaching children social-emotional concepts at a very early age. Her first children’s book, Dear Me, Letters to Myself For All of My Emotions teaches children how to recognize and manage the emotions they feel throughout the day. Donna currently hosts the podcast Kids Under Construction and also writes fo