Emotionary: A Fantastic Book About Emotional Education
Your emotional education plays a big role in the person you become in life. To manage your emotions right makes you more intelligent. But first, someone has to teach you how. One of the best new tools out there for just this is the children’s book Emotionary: Say What You Feel.
The book is intended for children (and their parents) as a way to help them define their emotions, as well as their causes and influences. That way, they will get to know themselves better, but they will also be quicker to feel empathy with others. The idea is that knowing how others feel not only makes you compassionate, it makes you intelligent.
What is emotional intelligence?
Emotional intelligence is defined as the ability to identify and control your emotions. It also means taking advantage of the opportunity to channel your energy in a positive direction. It is a skill that comes into play in all parts of your social life. However, this is not the only area in which it plays an interesting role. It is also about things like your internal monologue and the thoughts you make room for.
However, emotional intelligence is not part of traditional psychology, and it is a whole new concept. It is not part of conventional intelligence tests. At the same time, many people see it as the reason why the IQ test is outdated. IQ tests involve a different type of intelligence, one that is more analytical and logical. However, developing this kind of intelligence does not make you better at dealing with your emotions.
That’s why tools that can help people interested in emotional intelligence are so wonderful. One of the best is Emotionary.
What is Emotionary ?
It is a book in the form of a dictionary with 42 entries , one for all emotions:
| Love | Tenderness | Hate | Anger | Irritation | Tension |
| Relief | Ro | Happiness | Happiness | Sadness | Compassion |
| Regret | Fault | Flause | Insecurity | Modesty | Confusion |
| Fear | Astonishment | Disgust | Hostility | Approval | Misunderstanding |
| Helplessness | Solitude | Nostalgia | Melancholy | Boredom | Enthusiasm |
| Enthusiasm | Euphoria | Discouragement | Disappointment | Frustration | Admiration |
| Jealousy | Desire | Satisfaction | Pride | Happiness | Gratitude |
In the dictionary, each entry comes with a visual representation of the emotions and a brief description of what that emotion is. There is also another important point they add to each entry: the causes, consequences or other aspects of that feeling, in terms of the feelings after it.
The book is part of a project called Say What You Feel . The point of it is to explore the emotional world of children or adults. Emotionary is just one part of this project. They also have a gratitude diary, activities, a reader’s guide, emotion workshops and ideas for using the pictures in Emotionary.
How do you use Emotionary ?
It is a perfect book for children from 6 years and up. This is when they begin to feel complex emotions. It would not be useful at a younger age, because the content is too advanced for them. However, if you have the time and resources, it is definitely possible to customize if you want to start using it earlier.
Emotionary is marketed as a learning tool for parents and teachers. It is great at home because it strengthens the bond between parents and their children through emotional understanding and communication. Teachers can also use it in schools because the extra materials can address questions, discussions and exchange ideas in the classroom.
Why is it such an important tool?
Whether you are a parent, a teacher or just an adult who spends time around children, Emotionary is a great tool. At home, it can be the child’s night book. You can use it with them (which is good for the bond between you), or let them use it alone (which will stimulate their intrapersonal intelligence).
There is an endless list of included materials you can use at school with this book. Their website has free resources organized by level of education (kindergarten, primary school, secondary school and high school). There are spreadsheets with colorful drawings about all the different emotions. There are also simple questions, visualizations of emotions and identifications of them through drawings and scenes.
Although only available in Spanish right now, the publisher has a workshop to help young children identify their feelings and express them in the right words.
Finally, we want to emphasize that emotional intelligence is an ability we use to develop ourselves and our relationships. That’s why Emotionary can be such a great help. It shows how valuable emotions are and brings that information to young children.
