Friday 20 March 2020

My Many Colored Days

Hi everyone.  I took a social media break.  I came back and life just blew up.  COVID-19 took over.  Every day life turned upside down.  Today is my first day at home at it's...well it's full of emotion.  Up until today I was at school, packing up, cleaning, reaching out to families to see if they were okay, helping my team as we gathered food and made hampers for 20+ families in our community that we know depend on us for their children's breakfast, lunch and snacks.  Amidst the chaos I had a task, a purpose and today feels heavy.



So as much as I wanted to write a regular post about fashion or my happy life, I just couldn't bring myself to it all week.  I have a post planned and pictures ready, but it just doesn't feel like me right now.  Right now I feel a lot of emotions, fear, anxiousness, pride in our community, nervous,  hopeful, sad, confused, grateful for having a job that allows and encourages me to be at home taking care of my own family while also trusting me to do the right thing and use appropriate social distancing.  I was going to dig into the connection between emotions and colors with my little Pre-K group in order to help them identify, understand and self-regulate.  But here I am struggling with all of these concepts myself.  So right now, I am going to be honest and just lean in to this awful, uncomfortable feeling, that makes me want to stay in bed, the fear of hearing any more news, and I am going to show up for my children, for my family and for my community by doing my part and staying at home! 



For a fun learning activity about emotions with your children, I've gathered up some resources to guide you.



1.  Have your child come up with a list of different emotions, jot them down together.



https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Character-Emotions-Charts-FREE-2370313

2.  Read the book or listen to it here.





3.  Go back to your list of emotions and decide which color best suits each emotion and why they think so.



4.  Have your child create their own color emotion art work.  There are a number of different ways and then have them tell you about their emotions and give you an example of each one and when they might feel like that. 

 

https://www.thingstoshareandremember.com/my-many-colored-days-collages/



https://fiftyreds.wordpress.com/2013/04/16/my-many-colored-accordion-books/



http://simpleathome.com/my-many-colored-days-by-dr-seuss

5.  Long term project---- if your child struggles with emotions, maybe have a long piece of paper that you can label (Your Childs Name) Emotions!  And then they can go to it every time they feel different things and draw with the color that represents that emotion.  Then you have a place to begin a conversation with them. 





Anyway, tell me how you are feeling?

12 comments:

  1. These resources are wonderful! I'm thankful I have some things from my years as a school speech pathologist, but I really appreciate anything! Thanks for sharing these! And stay healthy!

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    1. You would have great resources and activities for sure. Hope your days are going well with self distancing and staying at home.

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  2. I love this book and used to use it with my babies at school. For awhile I did after-school counseling for children at risk. This was a book I often used with them. I appreciate your candor talking about your own feelings right now. Thank you. It is hard to talk about dressing up or going on dates with the hubs (nothing is open around here) when so many are so sick. I think posts like this are more helpful and timely. Thank you again!!

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    1. Thank you for your words of encouragement. I just couldn't get anything else down on paper truthfully. My mind is more adjusted now, settling into the unknown and the scary. We are practicing strong self-distancing, no socializing with friend and everything except grocery stores is closed here as well. Lots of walking just as a family. Keep strong and healthy.

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  3. These are great resources! The world is scary right now but we need to stand together and we will get through this! Stay healthy and safe!

    Jill - Doused in Pink

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  4. Yea, this time in our lives is very uncertain due to what is going on. I read on your previous post that you planned to go to Arizona next month. Do you think that trip will be disrupted? My sister is a Flight Attendant and on our blog on Friday she is going to share what it has been like lately. This really has effected almost every aspect of daily life! -M

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    1. We definitely wont be going on that trip and likely not the couple we had planned for the summer. I think this is pretty serious and will take time to calm down. Such a scary time in our life. I can only imagine how this is affecting your sisters income as airlines shut down. Fingers crossed that we all come out with our family, friends and neighbors healthy at the end of this pandemic. I'll for sure check out your post.

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  5. I can't wait for all of this to be past us, for hopefully awhile! It is HARD, especially some days more than others. I cried a lot last week, but haven't this week yet. I think helping me kids with the online schooling has helped take my mind off what is really going on outside and I'm trying to appreciate this once in a lifetime opportunity to slow down and take walks with them, enjoy the nice Spring weather while also social distancing.

    Carrie
    curlycraftymom.com

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    1. You are so right about getting to that appreciative stage. This week, mixed in with worry has been a place to gratitude. I actually am thriving in the forced slowing down of time and enjoying my life actually a lot more. I am not stressed or on edge because I feel like we aren't bouncing from one thing/place/task to another.

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  6. Such great resources! We have the kids home with us now that the schools have closed and I can see they are struggling a little with the break in the routine - this looks so helpful, thanks for sharing! :)

    Thank you so much for joining the #weekdayWearLinkUp :) I just posted this week's linkup, I'd love you to join again! :)

    Hope that you had a great weekend! :) We had a quiet one at home of course!

    Away From Blue

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