Thank you Netgalley for the ARC! I am a medical provider in pediatrics and I love reading different parenting books, especially about handling children's emotions in a way that fosters healthy responses. This book should be taken with a grain of salt like any other parenting book but worth the read for sure.

Now that I have a toddler, I finally understand how complex their little minds are. I appreciated this book in helping me navigate properly handling temper tantrums.

A helpful resource for anyone who interacts with children. I like that this book provides some useful tips for adults to help children navigate their feelings.

ARC was provided by NetGalley and William Morrow in exchange for an honest review.

I don't have children of my own yet, but I work with children so I found this book beneficial as well. I think this would be a great read for parents, teachers, or anyone who wants to understand children better.

This book fundamentally changed how I look at gentle/conscious parenting. I really struggled with knowing exactly how and what to do, but this breaks it down in such a way that I felt like my entire parenting worldview shifted. The authors, two teachers of little humans, talk about clear strategies, mindset changes, and the logic behind parenting systems. It felt like a breath of fresh air after drowning in parenting for the past 5 years. I was able to sit with my husband and have a clear conversation about expectations, why these strategies are supported, what to do if there’s a meltdown, and how to reconnect afterwards. I never thought we’d get here! I’ve suggested it for our parenting book club, and I can’t wait to reread.

Little Kids, Big Feelings is a great book that explores the world of children's minds and emotions. It gives a different perspective, helping parents and caregivers understand and support the emotional development of kids. The authors use real-life stories and research to give practical advice on raising emotionally intelligent children. This is a must-read for anyone looking to promote healthy emotional growth in kids, and it shows how the authors inspire not just happier childhoods, but also contribute to creating emotionally strong and empathetic adults!

Tiny Humans, Big Emotions nurtures gentle, empathetic, emotionally-aware parenting and caregiving. There are a lot of parenting books out there, and while I don't think this one offered anything new, it did present the information in a new way.

I really appreciated the emphasis on emotional intelligence and the way the authors related young children's emotion processing to adults', like the similarities pointed out in the example of a knocked down block tower and a knocked down pile of newly-folded laundry. I also loved that the authors explained mindfulness techniques as they would apply for children and adults. As a co-authored book, there was some confusion over which author's point of view was being expressed at times, which detracted from the flow of the book and its messaging.

Overall, I found this to be a value-added read and recommend it to new parents and seasoned caregivers with a particular interest in fostering emotional intelligence. Thank you to William Morrow for gifting me with an ARC to review. All opinions are my own. I loved it!

I thought this book was a good starting point for someone who is new to the topic. There were some helpful nuggets in there, but as someone who is a preschool teacher with some experience and training under her belt, there wasn't a lot of new content that I felt I could apply.

I will come back to this book in the future. I haven't finished it, not because of the book itself but just because of my own current inability to absorb and implement what is taught here. I really want to read this and feel it will be helpful from what I've read so far, but I am not in a place to appreciate it right now and don't want to leave it unrated forever. 4 stars for what I've read so far, and I will come back to it eventually.

I've written about the book for my Psychology Today blog, Field Guide to Families. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/field-guide-to-families/202310/emotional-intelligence-in-children

**Many thanks to NetGalley, William Morrow-Harvest, and to Alyssa Blask Campbell and Lauren Elizabeth Stauble for an ARC of this book!**

"When little people are overwhelmed by big emotions, it's our job to share our calm, not to join their chaos."-L.R Knost

Okay, sure...but how exactly do we go about DOING that amidst screaming, tiny fists a' flying and little bodies flailing....not to MENTION people staring at you with that "Get your loud child out of this public place...and oh, maybe try a little PARENTING once you get home while you're at it" face?

While it sometimes takes a village, these two authors (and founders of Seed & Sow.org) take the reader on a journey through raising emotionally intelligent little ones: a trip that begins with parents examining their own psyches and upbringings and the way we were often taught to repress and hide our feelings for the comfort and others, and exploring their new methodology of Collective Emotion Processing (CEP) that encourages children to identify feelings, process needs, and to learn to communicate, even at the height of stress.

This book is split into three sections: the first deals with a broad conversation on Emotions and their significance, and the importance of self-awareness and self-regulation. They are also careful to emphasize that self-regulation doesn't mean that emotions are processed, but can sometimes mean they've just been suppressed. Chronic stress and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) can make it exponentially difficult for children to ever be at a state of rest and recovery, and having anything less than secure attachment with a caregiver (such as a avoidant or anxious attachment) can make this even more difficult. All of this background is provided to help the reader (parent or child care giver of any kind) focus on their own lived experience, because all of this sets the blueprint in our brains for how we react in any given situation and can also help us frame by asking the question: how DO we want to raise our children? What do we want to be different in terms of processing and self-expression?

The best part of this first section for me were the examples provided of how to charge our batteries, either through proprioceptive sense (big body play) that can include a long hug, massage, going for a run, wearing a baby, jumping into a pile of pillows, etc. or recharging our vestibular system (ex. swinging, going upside down, bouncing on a yoga ball, etc.) Learning how to reset and recharge our nervous systems is an ESSENTIAL tool for getting out of a fight or flight response and back 'into our bodies,' and all of these strategies can be applied to children as well as adults. (All of these resources are also listed at the authors' website if you need a quick resource).

Part two is the meat and potatoes of the book and deals with Collaborative Emotion Processing. The process involves a wheel of mindfulness, with spokes including adult-child interactions, self-awareness, scientific knowledge, uncovering implicit bias, and self-care. This sounds like a LOT: and well, it is. We need to identify our feelings, what triggers the feelings, seek support through coping strategies, and solve the problem or let it go. (And if our child is the one experiencing the emotion...we need to help them through this process!) In essence when a big emotion arises, we need to determine if a child is in a state of dysregulation or not. If they are, it isn't the time to teach: we need to calm them first. If a child is hitting, it's tempting to say "We do not hit", but this alone will not teach the child not to hit. If we can determine their underlying feelings or needs and provide empathy, sometimes this alone is enough.

It's a tricky process, and as the book goes on, it becomes increasingly clear that this methodology doesn't necessarily fall in line with societal expectations...and I'll be honest, I did get a bit deflated and overwhelmed during the book at times, when it seemed like the task of teaching self-regulation to tiny humans seemed a bit much. But what I came to realize as I read is while I might not approach every situation as 'perfectly' as the experienced childcare experts who penned this book, even making the ATTEMPT to hold boundaries and provide support rather than resorting to yelling or punishment instantly is a huge step up...and it will always be a work in progress. My son is two and a half, and no doubt as his communication continues to develop, this will be an ever-changing roller coaster ride. However, even coming into situations backed with scientific knowledge about how our minds and nervous systems coalesce in moments of stress and having those strategies on deck is ENORMOUSLY helpful.

The authors also realize the world is designed to punish "bad behavior": my child's daycare teachers utilize time outs, and it's not like the criminal justice system is simply going to abandon incarceration in the wake of mindfulness and an attempt at tackling problems at the root rather than punishing a negative outcome. However, living in a world that is FINALLY beginning to acknowledge the power of emotional processing rather than simply criticizing bad behavior (and teaching children shame) rather than learning TRUE coping strategies. Although this book in some ways could be viewed as a conduit to guide readers towards seedandsow.org and also to the authors' podcast, this book felt less like an advertisement and more like a survival guide that ANYONE who spends time with children needs to have hanging around.

CEP is a long road, an unpredictable journey, and one you will embark on one day, one hour, and sometimes one MINUTE at a time. As the authors state, "You might be the only emotionally safe person for your child to break down to, and you are enough."

But the message at the end of that quote is at the core of everything we are and everything we do, and is one that as parents and caregivers, we can't ever afford to forget: "You are enough."

4 stars

Lots of parenting experts tell you, “allow your child to feel” and they’ll learn to self regulate. But unlike everyone else this book gives you concrete, yet adaptable steps, to actually help your child move through and process their emotions and how to work, outside of the moment to build their emotional intelligence toolbox. It also gives concrete steps for how you, as a caregiver, can find your calm to help your tiny humans find theirs. This is the book I’ve needed for years. I’ve already started apply the CEP Method and am already seeing improvement in all of us!

Where was this book when I raised my children? As an early childhood educator of 30 years, I was blown away by this book. Collaborative Emotion Coaching makes so much sense in helping children through big emotions. I wish they taught us how to use the sensory system as a guide for understanding children's needs in child development classes. This book should be required reading for all education majors, new parents, and grandparents. The personal stories and examples of language we can use were incredibly helpful in understanding the best approach to use with children in so many situations. I have purchased four of these books, one for myself and each of my adult children.

This was a really dense book on what Collaborative Emotion Processing is and how it can be used with young children. It was a slow read for me because there's a lot to absorb and think about, but I do think it had a lot of useful and practical idea for helping children become more emotionally intelligent that I will return to.

I absolutely love reading parenting books and have read quite a few of them since I had my first child eight years ago. The concepts in this book were very familiar, but I don't think I've ever read a book that felt like it was more targeted towards teachers than parents. I think the book would've been helped by picking a focus and also picking a narrative voice. The narrator switched through out and it was impossible to keep track of which author was speaking. Because of that I never really felt engaged with the book, I love parenting books that feel like I am getting advice from a wise friend.

Tiny Humans Big Emotions was a bit of a struggle for me. It wasn’t stylistically cohesive, and it felt a bit like wading through a text book. There were two authors who used first person, but the only indication of who was speaking was by knowing the name of one of their children. Additionally, I wish the book would have been written to either teachers or parents- It felt like they were trying to put too much into the package - at the very least, I wish they would have prefaced each section as a “for teachers” or “note for parents.” There is overlap between the two, but often it just got to be too much superfluous information.

It is well researched and thorough, but it wants a bit of personality from both authors to make it really shine.

I’d like to thank Harvest Publications and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A good read for anyone who deals with children. Strategies, advice, and ideas for helping our tiny humans navigate their often "big emotions." Will definitely be helpful for me with my big emotions 2 year old!

Thank you Netgalley and William Morrow, Harvest for the ARC!

"Tiny Humans, Big Emotions" is a great read for parents and care-givers. This book provides strategies for helping children manage hard emotions such as anger, sadness, and anxiety. Adults need to regulate and mind their own emotions so that they can respond with care to their kids. Highly recommended. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.