When My Worries Feel Overwhelming: A Mindfulness Book to Help Children Cope with Anxiety

Sharon: It’s not what I expected—a bit more “simple” than I expected, for the cost, but my five year old daughter with anxiety and OCD loves it, and we read it every day. I have even given it to her teachers at school, so they can try to help with her fears/obsessions at school!

United Kingdom on Mar 15, 2023

TonPar: It is a great resource!

Canada on Apr 26, 2020

Amazon Customer: I use this book and worksheets I created to go with it to help students with self-awareness and self-regulation - not just students with autism spectrum disorder! Any elementary student can benefit! The author also has a manual with worksheets on a disk for printing. I now have 2 copies of When My Worries Get Too Big because I've used it so much with individual students, small groups, and even whole classrooms from preschool through 4th grade. It's so easy to integrate into your current classroom management system and helps students understand their own anxieties and to know that other people experience the same feelings. We use the book to help discuss positive and constructive ways to deal with feelings.

United States on Jan 23, 2020

julie fernhout: Great book ,we were told to get for our daughter who was 13, better for younger kids

Canada on May 27, 2019

MomOfTwins: One of my daughters struggles with managing her emotions. When her father and I started the process of divorcing, I picked this book up and added to my twins' bookshelf. When I received this book, I was initially disappointed by its simplicity. My daughters were in kindergarten, but reading at a 3rd grade level; I thought that the presentation of the book would be too simple to hold the interest of the one with anxiety challenges. Boy, was I wrong.

At age 5, she read through the book from cover to cover. She didn't end up doing any of the drawing activities in the book, but she couldn't stop talking about the levels of emotion the book presented. She came up with a long list of situations in which she felt a "1" (was happy and calm), a '3' (was agitated and starting to lose control) and a '5' (felt like she had no control at all over her feelings or her body).

We still deal with her feelings of anger, frustrated perfectionism, and feeling misunderstood. This book has helped, though. The other day, she picked some wildflowers (weed blossoms) and placed them in a cup on the windowsill. No fewer than 3 times, our cat pulled the flowers out the cup, and strewed them...

United States on Oct 18, 2012

TL: THis book was a big help to my 7 year old who has Anxiety. His therapist uses the same techniques as the book so it really goes hand in hand with what she is working on with him and she reviewed the book as well and thought it was very well written and useful and will be recommending it to some of her other patients. This is easy for a younger child to help identify triggers and what to do to help themselves through their anxiety and fears. My son really enjoyed the parts that he could draw in his own pictures and answer the questions. Very interactive and helpful I would recommend this book to anyone whos child is going through anxiety or fears.

United States on Aug 06, 2012

Jami L. Principe: My 4 year old son has a little bit of anxiety so I thought this book might be a good tool to teach him coping skills. It is definitely aimed more at kiddos with Autism Spectrum Disorders and is designed as a social story, but I was able to take a couple of strategies from the book. They have a nice visual scale for kids to identify their emotions that was helpful.

United States on Sep 27, 2011

RM: I bought this for my 5-year-old son, and I thought he would throw it across the room, because he often rejects my attempts at "talking through" his anger. But he was fascinated and seemed quite relieved to have been given a strategy to help himself. He often speaks in terms of feeling like a "5" or a "3". It is, for me, a helpful context for understanding his moods. That night, after we first worked through the book, he wrote me a picture and a card saying, "Thank you, Mama. I love the book." I am now about to check out some of the other books by this author. Although these books are published by the "autism- asberger" society, or some such organization, I think it is invaluable for any child who struggles with feelings that feel too big...

United States on Oct 14, 2009

Brummie Dad: I bought this book to help my son who has ASD and ADHD. It has proven to be excellent in helping him understand his feelings and when his worries/temper is getting too much. It provides a clear route for the child to understand how they feel and steps to cool/calm down. I would highly recommend it, and know it would help all children when they find it hard to express and understand their feelings.

United Kingdom on Apr 19, 2009

Mrs. C. L. Shadbolt: I have an autistic son in mainstream school who is 7, and this book is perfect for his level of understanding to how to manage his anxiety in class. We find schhool is where he is most anxious and I have given the book to his LSA to help them both understand. Some pages are work book style and they can draw what makes them anxious etc. I would say it's best for primary aged children, who have problems communicating how they feel or what upsets them.

United Kingdom on Jan 30, 2008