Life can be tough on preschoolers. They’re at the age where they’re old enough to understand, but still too young to do most things. They are introduced to a lot of rules and provided with lots of life lessons. Sometimes, it can be a mental and an emotional overload on their little body and brains. As a parent, you try your best to help them out but i’s not always easy.
My four year old son Kyle started full-day junior kindergarten this year. I know it’s definitely taken a toll on him since previously, he spent every awake moment of his life at home, with me. While he’s doing well academically and socially, he still has a lot of areas where he could improve. Specifically, at school, he doesn’t like playing in the playground at his school while there are other groups of kids playing too. At home, he doesn’t do a great job of sharing with his two-year old brother Ryan. Sometimes he gets so frustrated with him that he acts out. While it’s not uncommon and completely normal, it’s still not ideal. My husband and I have tried to speak to him about acting out when he doesn’t like something and we have provided provide him with some tools to help him cope and change his behaviour. Of course, it wouldn’t hurt for Kyle to receive some help and support elsewhere.
The Adventures of Napkin Man e-books are based on the acclaimed preschool program televisions series of the same name airing on Kids’ CBC. The e-books, like the show, aim to help children better understand and effectively manage their day-to-day emotions.
Each of the three e-books open with a tale of a child facing an emotional challenge. As in the television series, pre-school teacher Mister Anthony frames the experience and he also acts as the narrator in the e-books telling the story of how Napkin Man provided help and coping strategies to someone with a similar experience. The e-books provide messaging around calming down, sharing and shyness.
The best part about these e-books is that they are interactive and intuitive, allowing your child to interact directly with Napkin Man through a series of activities, songs and games. Each e-book is also fairly short, which makes them ideal for little ones who may not have a long attention span. The Adventures of Napkin Man has been embraced by educators and child development experts for its unique and innovative approach to the social and emotional challenges of early childhood. It features caring main characters, age appropriate comedy and catchy original music. The e-books can be used by your child on their own using the “read-to-me” function or they can be co-viewed and narrated by a parent. The e-books features enable young readers to help Napkin Man and his friends work through the issues and emotions featured in each tale.
The three e-books, Penguin-A-Go-Go, Treasure for All and Say Hello are available for free of charge from the iTunes store. Click on each title below for the link to download:
GIVEAWAY
To help you enjoy these great e-books with your kids, enter to win a $100 Visa gift card that you can put towards the purchase of an iPad or other educational materials. Readers may enter across many blogs, they may only win from one participating blog. Contest is open to all residents of Canada & winners can expect their prize in approximately 4-6 weeks. Enter the giveaway via Rafflecopter (please give it a few seconds to load). Contest ends Tuesday February 3rd, 2015.
Disclosure: I am part of The Adventures of Napkin Man campaign and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.
Patience, she has NONE. No matter what challenge she faces, reading, drawing .. if it’s not ‘perfect’ to her its an instant meltdown. She’s almost like she fully expects to sit down at anything or do anything and just automatically be great!
My kids had speech issues which still continue a bit today.
I have a four year old Kyle as well
We really enjoy watching Napkin Man and his adventures during our lazy Saturday morning routine of watching Kids CBC. I love the fact that an actor who I grew up with and loved is now playing an integral part in my child’s development. I had no idea about the ebooks but will download them tonight and explore them with my son.
My son used to scream instead of using his words.
I remember some of my nieces/nephews not wanting to leave their mother
my youngest is extremely clingy and doesn’t want to let me out of his site, this has been going on for a full year, longest clingy stage ever!
My oldest was always anxious and would deal with it by just striking out at her brother.
My barely 4 year old son is still trying to cope with the sudden accidental death of his 14 year old brother last May. He is too young to understand what has happened & it is still too hard for me to deal with and explain easily.
My sons feelings get hurt if the other kids don’t want to play with him.
my son suffers from apraxia, which has caused and still does some social issues
My oldest had a hard time with keeping a close friend. They kept moving away and it made her anxious.
My son is having a hard time with transitions and he would scream without using his words to let us know what is bothering him.
Jeannie
Going to school for the 1st time
My son had issues with his writing, going into jk we told them he was probably left handed, as he favoured that hand more. The teacher pushed him to be right handed, and still to this day he has issues with his writing
Shyness.
My 8 yr old suffers with anxiety
My oldest had a real bad problem with shyness and my youngest with a little bit of everything from lying to stealing and being diagnosed with ADHD was a rough couple years
My son took a long time to toilet train but he’s pretty good now!
My 5 five year old is very shy. When she performed at school concerts, she never looked to the front, she kept on facing side way as she said she afraid of people taking pictures. Also, she is very shy to meet new people. For my younger one, whenever he’s not able to express himself or not getting what he wants, he throws things that are around him
I haven’t reached the preschool point yet however one of my biggest fears is my son being bullied. I hear and see so many negative things about it and how it really affects the child being bullied. My hope for him is that he’s embraced and accepted by his peers.
my daughter is 5 now but when I went back to my seasonal job when she was 1 she had a very hard time leaving me to go to daycare , then I would be home for the winter and once I went back again in the spring we went through it all over again , now she is ok with it thank goodness
Although my son is no longer a preschooler, he has ADHD and SPD, and calming down is still a VERY big issue for him. I can’t wait to download these books for him.
not wanting to stay at daycare when I started work
My daughter had issues with bedtime
Toilet training my son was frustrating.
My son is behind on his speech so it can lead to frustration.
My son had hearing issues, this became a frustration and showed behaviorally.
homewithaneta says
My preschoolers felt that they were the bosses of us parents because daycare taught them that they had rights…not while I pay the bills.
My 5 year old has a very hard time in accepting change. When it comes to even clothing.
Esther Saraga-Rutledge says
Awesome to have them learning emotions!
meltdowns because of a speech disorder it frustrating when he is trying to say something and cant.
Bedtime, sleeping along, and learning to listen to the word NO
I can’t edit the rafflecopter anymore since they changed it, and I hit enter too soon. my instagram name is actually andrea_hockeygirl (I had a type)
she is impatient
My girl doesn’t like when I’m not in the room with her. Even when her dad is home and tells her I’m in the next room. She gets really upset…..we spend every moment of the day together so I’m not too surprised by this emotion. But what I didn’t expect was that it would get worse as she gets older. She’s only 2.5….so what am I in for when school starts?? Unless she grows out of it.
My boy was never like this, and I’m not doing anything differently.
My daughter has a lot of delays from speech to learning to walking and everything in between. Her preschool years were very frustrating as she wasn’t always understood and was left out of somethings because of delays.
When my older boys were young, they had a bit of trouble adjusting to being away from me when they started preschool. I was a stay at home mom and we lived far away from family so they weren’t used to spending time away from me and drop-off was hard for a long time.
Jonnie
My son faced great challenges with shyness and difficulty learning. School was a hard time in his life but I am happy to say that he has grown into a very confident, independent man!
My son is currently being treated for social anxiety. I also have it. It is a struggle for school and it is hard to get teachers to understand a lot of what goes on in his head.
My niece is currently going through not wanting to share anything and having complete meltdowns if she is made to.
My oldest is Autistic which is hard not just on him but on his brother and sister as well. My youngest doesn’t always understand why his older brother doesn’t do things with him
My daughter was so shy and timid..finally after years and years of dancing she finally came out of her shell, she’s a social butterfly now
Patience for sure! My son is has not started school yet but will start this September. Nervous but he will do fine!
My son has special needs so he had (and continues to have) many emotional issues. One used to be the sound & sight of simple tv characters like Dora the Explorer woud emotionally upset him- he would scream & cry & panic & scratch his face until we turned her off. We used exposure therapy for years & now he worked through it.
I have 3 kids so there were different issues with each kid but I guess my oldest had the hardest time at first as he was very anxious about being away from home and he was very scared there would be mean kids. All in all he did very well but he always had anxiety and was glad to get home
My granddaughter has just lost her pacifier and not she is going threw withdraws from it.
When my 3 year old gets upset, he still expresses it physically, eg. by hitting.
my son was always shy around new people,and quiet,,not wanting to talk too much
My son would get so upset when things where not done his way , he would play , but only his way
He is always saying he misses things and people and crying. If he leaves his aunts house, his nanas house, his school we registered for recently…
my oldest did not really have any problems other than not being able to say words with the letter ‘L’ in them. My daughter was very ‘spirited’ when young , some shyness issues around others and not wanting to share…
Sara Rai says
My sister had trouble with potty training her kids.
My little guys are twins so they are struggling a lot with sharing and taking turns and fairness right now. I am as well!
My oldest always had trouble leaving people/places - the park, preschool, extracurricular classes, a friend’s house etc. No matter how many strategies we tried to help her cope, she was always deeply saddened by leaving and it took a long time before the meltdowns stopped. My youngest on the other hand has trouble joining people/places - for example we went to a birthday party this weekend and she talked about the party all day, very excited about going. She got all dressed up, skipped on the way there, chattering with excitement. As soon as I opened the door to the party room she stopped dead in her tracks (I almost stepped right on her!), turned around abruptly and asked me to hold her. She spent the first half of the time playing on her own to the side of all the other kids (she is 2, they ranged from 2 to 7), and finally warmed up to a couple of them by the end. She is always hesitant like this, whereas my other child is almost too social. My youngest also has trouble sharing, which my oldest never experienced.
My son had and is having issues with loosing people, we had a series of deaths withing the family of all people he was close to. It’s hard to explain loss to someone so young, he didn’t have the vocabulary to explain his emotions so he got very upset and over affectionate with people. He’s getting better and now that he’s older he can use his words and we are able to help him more.
kelly young says
my daughter has kidney disease and suffers depression
My daughter used to be constantly glued to my side whenever we would go somewhere.
We had problems getting used to new situations. ie school
They are shy and quiet at school or with other people, but not at home
separation anxiety from me and her dad - and now the new issue of navigating complicated friendships.
My yongest daughter was very shy to the point where she was scared to ask her teacher for anything when she was very young. Fortunately, things are much better now.
She is having little anger out bursts, we are really trying to work on it
Trying to do their homework every night haha
My daughter Gets angry and yells when playing with her older sister.
Getting her snow pants on. She gets so frustrated. I’m trying to help her to be patient and just ask for help.
Being too particular about everything! Everything has to be just right, including her homework!
My daughter is shy and is still dealing with it in grade one.
Separation anxiety when left with others for babysitting while out on an errand.
My 4 year old son in JK has trouble accepting changes. His teacher left in November on maternity leave, and he acts out with the supply teacher, but not at daycare or with his parents.
The teacher doesn’t appear to have much experience yet, so we are trying to stay in contact with the school about what works well at home and maintain consistency for him.
Patience is our problem. He sees adults around him having none and now he doesn’t either. So it is being worked on and he is slowly coming around and understanding.But its still a work in progress.
My Son just started JK and has been at home with me all the years before, and it seems like he is sick once a month for 2 weeks. Poor thing.
my daughter was extremely shy, she wouldnt go to anyone and hated any changes …
My niece is very tiny for her age and very timid.
lisa mclain says
My son has speech problems but he is coming along nice with his therapy !
My son gets bullied because he likes “girl” things
I don’t have kids but finds kids get really emotional and act out if they don’t get their way and it could be something as simple as food touching on their dinner plate.
Patience!
My little one still has issues expressing her words
My son struggled and still struggles with extreme shyness and is hard to get him to try new things.
My youngest started kindergarten this year he shruggled with shyness.
*struggled*
Sophie is four and just had surgery to fix a turn in her right eye and she’s having difficultly understanding why her eyes are different. She also expected to be “fixed” after the surgery and she’s having trouble understanding that progress takes time.
my little guy is very loud, we are having a hard time getting him to keep a quite voice
No kids, but my little cousins have been having trouble going to bed on time!
Sharing is certainly the biggest issue for us.
I had a speech impediment so that was a real issue for me as child.
He is very shy and has a hard time speaking up
My daughter is dealing with separation anxiety in pre school
Especially after being home for the holidays and getting back to routine.
She is quite and slurs her words still at 3
I worry about my godson and him dealing with his parents separation.
Making friends, my son is so shy!
The three year old thinking she is her 7 year old sister, and getting mad when she can’t do what her sister is able to
Being very shy and not wanting to engage with others around her.
he is afraid to make mistakes so this makes him anxious
My niece is anxious about being alone.
We are dealing with some speech issues
One of my little cousins are struggling with speech.
My kids are older but for my oldest daughter it was separation anxiety and now she’s in grade 8 and is still going threw anxiety at school
My daughter has a hard time transitioning from one class to the next. She doesn’t like change & it’s been extremely tough.
My son is not a pre schooler but he is diagnosed with autism and he gets emotional at times and we have no idea why. He also as many do get emotional when they cannot have what they want which is due to not comprehending the reasoning of why not
My little one is struggling with speech problems
my son had issues going to the washroom in his pants, his dad and I went through a rough divorce and it affected him
My little girl gets frustrated and gives up on tasks easily.
My little guy has trouble handling frustration
my youngest son was always frustrated and also he gets emotional he hated school from day one,
sharing is tough at our house
Doesn’t talk to other people
he is oh so shy!
He is shy and is really attached to his brother, he doesnt like to be apart from him, but has to learn!
My daughter gets frustrated very quickly when she struggles to do something.
she suffers from social anxiety.its hard for her to talk to people and make friends.
Separation anxiety the child can have this due to being an only child or missing others from home.
My daughter would get easily frustrated and give up on things. She is slowly growing out of it now though.
Bailey Dexter says
We are working on how to react on frustrations without anger outbursts. It’s a tough one for a 2 year old but are making progress!
My daughter was a perfectionist at that age.and if she did something wrong she would throw a fit.
when my son was younger he had issues with sharing
grand daughter is fleeing away and hiding every chance she gets. Makes me nervous, I know she is just playing and will soon out grow this.
my grandson is dealing with anger management and impulse control issues right now
Several issues, such as anxiety, learning difficulties and shyness.
My God Daughter suffers from anxiety and is incredibly shy outside the comfort of her home
My daughter had trouble writing her numbers but as a Kindergarten she is learning the numbers a bit better.
Bedtime was the biggest issue I had when the girls were young
My daughter has a tough time when she gets overtired, then it is hard to reason with her.
learning to play with others!
Bedtime issues & social structures make son edgy
I find some preschoolers have a tendency to lie and then get upset if you call them on it.
My middle granddaughter chooses to hit instead of using her words.
Shyness is an issue
My twins scream. I try to encourage them to use their words, but it’s not easy. They scream at each other, us, other kids, and their big sister!
My niece is really shy and doesn’t like to be left alone
My son is extreamly shy and is trying so hard with his social areas to open up abit more
My boy really did not like to share when he was young and he disliked to sit near anyone who was not his friend in kindergarten. Thankfully he outgrew it!
Cheers.
Sharing and respecting peoples privacy
Mine has some sharing issues
adhd and coordination issues
sharing and learning to play nicely with other kids
Anxiety and depression run in our family so everyone faces constant battles.
my youngest actually suffers from anxiety and has slight ocd
My four year old has a bit of separation anxiety ever since he started kindergarten last year.
FIrst day of school is always hard
Mainly anxiety. ..
My little guy is having issues with changes to his routine
She is in the terrible threes - so many tantrums, so little time.
My daughter has difficulty using words instead of sounds when she is upset.
Just being away from me was really hard for her. I’m a stay at home mom and she had never been in day care before. Lots of tears the first couple weeks of school.
he is delayed from being born three months early, he has speech, potty training delays.
My Son took speech When He was in first grade
He gets really upset sometimes when he is asked to get ready to leave but he is playing or not ready, we’re working on that.
my daughter is having issues with seperation right now. I am trying to slowly socialize her.
Jealousy is a big one.
- amber y
Using his words nicely instead of getting upset so easily
Londia
can’t say “no” or “don’t do it” without a crying fest
My 5 year old hasn’t really had any emotional issues to deal with. Perhaps he’s a bit sensitive, but I find that more of asset than a liability.
He used to have a hard time reading until we practiced every night and after a while he had no problems with it.
She is very shy and has a very hard time being around people she is not familiar with.
my son is getting help for speech
My preschooler still struggles with transitions. When an activity is fun, he doesn’t want it to end and sometimes gets upset.
I get it! I’d be upset too
There is the struggle of shyness
Getting him to school for first time was difficult.
she’s very shy and struggles with sudden changes from routine