What can you do when your feelings get the best of you?

The students at Sunnyvale Elementary carry a lot in their backpacks - including some things you can't see quite so well, like big feelings and confusing emotions.

Today, one fiery red book keeps spilling out and exploding onto everyone: ANGER! It's time for the kids to use their best detective skills to figure out what's underneath those angry feelings.

Ana feels HURT when her friends don't play fair.

Ben feels EMBARRASSED when he makes a mistake.

Grace feels DIFFERENT when nobody chooses her for their team.

When our feelings get the best of us, we need to do our best with our feelings. Become a backpack detective like Ana, Ben, and Grace!

Stop when I'm furious.
Pause and be curious.
What is underneath the mad?
Am I lonely, stressed, or sad?

Sinarski, Jessica

Jessica Sinarski, LPCMH equips parents and professionals to be healers for hurting children. Weaving user-friendly brain science into everything she does, Jessica ignites both passion and know-how in audiences. Extensive post-graduate training and 15+ years as a clinician, consultant, and parent educator led her to create BraveBrains, a resource and training platform for home, school, and community. She is also the author of the Riley the Brave picture books.

Jessica partners with school districts and child welfare agencies across the country to better incorporate effective trauma-sensitive practices into their work. She also shares her expertise as a contributor to magazines, blogs, and podcasts. When not writing and training, she continues to work as a bilingual therapist and clinical supervisor at an innovative adoption support agency. Jessica lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and three busy boys.