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Inside: Books and videos to talk with kids who have big reactions or overreactions to small problems.

Kira is working hard on her spelling test, pressing down hard with her pencil as she's writing. Suddenly, the pencil breaks and she bursts into tears. "My pencil broke!!!" she yells to no one in particular.

Some kids have huge, outsized reactions to what others recognize as a small problem. If you are having a small problem, you should have a small reaction. A fantastic first step to help kids who have big reactions is to review the size of problems and the size of reactions. I like to use visuals to help explain the lesson and give examples. Here are some books and videos to discuss the size of reactions with kids.

BOOKS

Berenstein Bears In The Dark - Sister Bear is scared and has a huge reaction to being in the dark. It causes some bear family shenanigans overnight.

Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus - My family loves Mo Willems books. If there is ever a character who has overreactions, it is the Pigeon.

The Day the Crayons Quit - The crayons have decided to quit and write letters to their owner. Hilarious and cute.

I Was So Mad - Little Critter gets so mad because he keeps asking to do things, but he can’t, so he decides to run away.

Grover Goes To School - Grover shares and looks out for everyone else, but eventually it turns out to be too much for him.

VIDEOS

Bomb Bird from Angry Birds - He’s trying to stay calm, he even uses some calming strategies, but eventually he has a moment of overreaction.

Mr. Jelly - He is afraid and has huge reactions to every sound, even a leaf falling.

Big Deal or Little Deal - An animated video explaining how different situations are a big or a little deal.

Big Problems vs. Small Problems - Kids tend to enjoy with the see adults role playing the wrong way to do things. This video shows how you could react in a big way or a little way.