The Huge Bag of Worries

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A fantastic book that opens discussions about worries and leads to some fun outdoor activities. It also enables you to think about strategies to deal with your worries such as developing your network and who could help you feel safe. *New Online Training* Taking the Curriculum Outdoors: A Whole School Approach Article 13, which states that all children have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to speak, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child’s choice; The illustrations in the book are very bright and colourful and give lots of highlights to the important points in the story.

In Woodland Dreams, young readers say goodnight to beloved woodland animals as they prepare to sleep. It tells the story of a little girl who carries around a huge bag filled with worries. (‘The metaphor is little monsters). To help your child open up and discuss their emotions, you can start by asking your children how they are feeling; are they angry, sad, happy, scared or worried? You can then identify what might be making them feel this way. Reinforce the idea that it’s okay for your child to feel like this and that we all experience different emotions. By validating their feelings, it helps to build trust between you and your child.This worry bag activity is a great one to use with your class to help them think about and discuss their emotions. It can be used as a morning starter activity to set them up for their day, or even as a standalone lesson alongside this Emotions PowerPoint. Virginia Ironside is best known as one of Britain's leading agony aunts. She started on WOMAN magazine before moving to THE SUNDAY MIRROR and TODAY newspapers. She now writes a weekly column for THE INDEPENDENT. She also appears regularly on radio and television on such programmes as Radio 4's 'Woman's Hour'. Her many books include self-help titles on subjects such as bereavement, as well as the children's spooky adventure series BURLAP HALL. Wherever Jenny goes, her worries follow her - in a big blue bag. They are with her all the time - at school, at home, when she is watching TV and even in the bathroom! Jenny decides they have to go, but who will help her get rid of them? You can also help your children to relieve anxiety and stress with this Homemade Stress Ball activity. The Government in Wales has signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), stating that children and young people have rights, no matter who they are, where they live or what they believe in. Among the articles listed are:

There could have been more information about some of the worries that the other characters have, it is helpful to see that for example Mum and Dad also have worries but this could have been talked about more. There are lots of worries in the bag but none are talked about in too much detail, it would have been good to maybe name and explore some in a bit more detail at the end to help with sorting them into groups. if the children are happy to share the worries from the bag let them do so and discuss the strategies they could use to deal with the worry. This can be done in role play with advice from the other elves/fairies. Article 25, which states parties recognise the right of a child who has been placed by the competent authorities for the purposes of care, protection or treatment of his or her physical or mental health to a periodic review of the treatment provided to the child and all other circumstances relevant to his or her placement. My favourite part of the book is when Jenny figures out how to deal with her bag of worries, the end of the story gives lot of brilliant ideas about how we can all treat our worries.This Worry Poster is a great one to use for your classroom displays or at home. It gives practical advice for children if they’re unsure how to approach their concerns. Throughout The Huge Bag of Worries, Jenny experiences many issues that can affect mental health. Although everything in Jenny’s life appears positive at the start of the story, her bag of worries grows bigger and bigger until the weight, the burden of her worries becomes too much to bear and she breaks down. My favourite character is the old lady who lives next door because she has lots of good advice and she is very helpful and a good friend to Jenny. There were lots of different characters in the book who Jenny could ask for help, I like how we see lots of different people she could ask and how we realise everyone can need help sometimes. The story is a great example of how we will all feel sometimes, and it makes it easy to see how worries can build up and affect all areas of our lives, even for grown-ups like parents or teachers. Protective Behaviours uses 7 strategies. One of these is called One Step Removed. This is a strategy that allows people to explore their feelings and thoughts using the 3rd person so it is not personal to them. Using the Huge Bag of Worries we can use puppets or characters, in this case we used an elf and asked, ‘If the elf had a bag of worries what might be in it?’.