Introduction
Starving the Anxiety Gremlin for Children Aged 5-9 is a self-help book written by Kate Collins-Donnelly that helps teaches young children how to cope with unpleasant feelings such as anxiety, fear and worry. This book is an incredibly useful resource for not only kids struggling with anxiety, but also caregivers who would like to help them. In this short summary, the main themes and ideas of the book will be discussed in order to provide an overall understanding of how the writing can help those in need.
Chapter 1: What is Anxiety?
This chapter introduces the concept of anxiety to young readers by introducing the main character, Gills, and talking about their experiences with anxiety. The main idea behind this chapter is to explain what anxiety is, what it can feel like and how it can affect our lives. Through Gills’ story, Collins-Donnelly demonstrates that it’s completely normal to experience anxiety, but it doesn’t have the power to run our lives.
For example, Gills learns that anxiety can make it hard to do simple things such as going to school or having a conversation. Despite their worries in these situations, Gills starts to recognize that they can slowly but surely start to manage their anxious feelings through various strategies. This is a crucial lesson for kids, as it teaches them that, although it can be difficult to manage anxiety, it is not impossible.
Chapter 2: What Can Help Us?
This chapter is all about teaching kids different coping techniques to help manage their anxiety. These strategies can be anything from deep breathing, to progressive muscle relaxation or talking about your worries. The main idea of this chapter is to help kids understand that although feelings of anxiety can seem overwhelming, there are strategies that can help us cope.
For example, Gills learns that deep breathing can help them to calm down by taking a few deep breaths whenever they start to feel overwhelmed. This simple strategy can be a very effective tool in helping kids to manage their anxious feelings and can be easily taught so kids can learn to rely on their own skills to deal with their worries.
Conclusion
Starving the Anxiety Gremlin for Children Aged 5-9 is a wonderful book by Kate Collins-Donnelly that truly has the power to help young kids understand, manage and cope with their anxiety. The main ideas of the book are explained through the story of Gills, who learns that while it is normal to experience anxiety, it can be managed using helpful strategies. This book is a fantastic resource for caregivers and kids alike, as it provides simple tools and strategies to help cope with the sometimes overwhelming feelings of anxiety.