Tantrums and meltdowns - Kiwi mum's book helps tackle age-old problem

March 22, 2023
The story teaches mindfulness for parents to connect with their little ones.

A New Zealand mum-of-two has written a book for kids to help them manage how they express big emotions when they're overwhelmed.

The rhyming book, titled Little Tiger With The Big Temper, follows Tootles the tiger who wakes up in a grizzly mood but is helped by his friend Pippin to calm down.

Author Je t’aime Hayr, from Auckland, uses mindfulness techniques in the story to help children understand their feelings.

She had learned some of the tools she includes in the book while dealing with prenatal depression during her pregnancy with her twin boys.

When her sons turned two, she found herself struggling to cope when they'd have tantrums or meltdowns, and Hayr began to see the value in teaching the same techniques to her kids.

She told 1News: "I was looking for a tool to help me navigate this and to also help my children learn to self-regulate as well because we all have to learn how to be better communicators."

Determined to help reduce the 'anxiety epidemic', Hayr self-published The Little Tiger with the Big Temper.

The book features vivid illustrations and teaches ways of expressing feelings, how to take a pause and belly breathing.

She said: "When it came to the challenges of parenting two year old twins with very big feelings, I knew I needed to turn to these tools again as sometimes I feel like a tiger with a temper too.

"It's such a good way of dealing with stress so it was tools I wanted my kids to learn but I wanted other kids to learn it as well.

"I felt that reading to our little ones was a key opportunity for adults and children to learn together."

As a self-published author, getting her book to print has been a struggle. She launched a Kickstarter page to raise money to get the first run off the ground.

It's now been picked up at schools around the country, with teachers using it with kids aged up to eight.

"I've had really amazing feedback from lots of parents and psychologists give it the thumbs up," Hayr said.

She's also had her own success, recalling one "really phenomenal" moment when she was in a really bad mood and needed a moment to think in her bedroom.

Her then-five-year-old followed her in and asked her how she was feeling before encouraging her to take some deep breaths like Tootles the tiger.

In an age of an "anxiety-epidemic", Hayr hopes The Little Tiger with The Big Temper will improve mental health outcomes for the next generation.

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