If you read this book to a group of children, it should quickly start a discussion of what makes a bad day and let children know that others often feel the same way and have bad days, too.Hearing others talk about how they got over that "bad day feeling" would help teach others coping skills. Children may want to draw a picture of their bad days and it would be easy to make a bad day class book. If you are a parent at home or working individually with a child, you could help him make his own book. As I write that, I am wondering do we want to record the bad days, but when we do, we validate the child’s feelings and later can look back and see that we were able to move forward. If a child draws his disappointment at not getting to go to the park because it is going to rain, but is able to overcome the disappointment and do something else, it will make it easier to overcome the next disappointment. It would increase the usefulness to take time to draw a picture of the good things too- even if the good stuff doesn’t happen until the next day. As the child looks back he might say, “We didn’t go to the park, but we measured the rain and got a whole cup full. We made rain paintings and cookies with the babysitter.” A book like this could help build a positive outlook, a sort of make lemonade out of lemons book.
Some children may have fun with a "bad picture" picture. We all know a few perfectionists and those children might have a good time making a bad picture. I've seen children get upset when their drawing doesn't turn out the way they want, so turn it around and have them make the worst picture they can. Some of those worst pictures ever, might turn out to be some great art. It could turn a stressful day into a fun day!
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