Striker, Slow Down!: A calming book for children who are always on the go by Emma Hughes
My rating: 3/5 cats
this is a cute little picture book about a cat named striker who is crazed with wanting to experience everything, all at once.
his frequent refrain, when cautioned by his parents about his speed-demon lifestyle, is adorable
i requested this book from netgalley because—cat, obviously, but also because i figured there may be a lesson in here that i could work into my own life, where i always seem to be doing too many things at once, and getting frustrated when i don’t meet my too-ambitious goals.
the book is intended to be used on the 3-6 year-old set, as a way to help parents encourage their overactive children to chill out, through an adapted-for-kids version of yoga practices.
does it work? no clue. 3-6 year-olds are, from my casual observation only, pretty enthusiastic and filled with energies making them tricky to corral into deep-breathing sessions. but it’s a good lesson to learn at an early age—to take the time to recalibrate before heading back out into the fray, just to make sure you’re not running yourself so ragged that you start to overlook details. or planters.
did it work on me? well, i’m going to try. i’m going to start making little pockets of time where i just sit here and think about my projected goals and try to make them into more realistic, prioritized goals. and maybe ALSO try to have a moment where i just do something wild and free, taking a page from striker’s original process. because it looked like he was having a lot of fun, and i need some of that. so, as a grown-up reading this book, i’ve decided to modify the lesson a little, because i’ve earned the right to make my own adult decisions, which includes the decision to act like a frenzied little kid every now and then.
the book also has really cute endpapers, which—like all photos in this review—are probably better in person and not just photographed from my computer.
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