My Feelings Are Okay, My Choices Show the Way

ABOUT THE BOOK My Feelings Are Okay, My Choices Show the Way is a gentle, engaging guide for young children—and the grown-ups who care for them—into one of life’s most important skills: emotional literacy. Children feel deeply from the very beginning. Joy, anger, fear, envy, sadness, love—all arrive early, often before children have words to make sense of them. This book teaches a simple but powerful truth: all feelings are welcome, but not all behaviors are helpful. By learning to tell the difference between what they feel and what they do, children begin to build the foundations of self-control, empathy, resilience, and responsibility. Through rhythmic language, playful interaction prompts, and everyday emotional experiences, this book helps children: - Recognize and name their feelings - Express emotions safely and honestly - Respect boundaries—both their own and others’ - Tolerate frustration and disappointment - Take responsibility for mistakes and repair relationships Decades of psychological research show that children who develop strong emotional awareness and self-regulation tend to do better in relationships, learning, and life overall than those who do not. Emotional intelligence—not the absence of big feelings, but the ability to handle them skillfully—is one of the strongest predictors of long-term well-being. For parents, caregivers, and educators, this book quietly models a cornerstone of healthy parenting: supporting every feeling without endorsing every behavior. When adults can hold children’s emotions with warmth while still setting clear limits, children learn that they are both accepted and guided—a combination essential for robust psychological development. My Feelings Are Okay, My Choices Show the Way is more than a story. It is an early map for navigating inner life—one that helps children grow into strong, kind, and emotionally capable humans. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Johannes Kieding is a psychotherapist and parent who helps parents and families learn one of life’s most important skills: how to live with strong feelings without being driven by them. In his work, he has seen again and again that emotional health is not about having fewer feelings, but about knowing what to do with them. Being able to distinguish between feelings and actions—welcoming the former while guiding the latter—is a skill that shapes relationships, learning, and well-being across a lifetime. My Feelings Are Okay, My Choices Show the Way grew out of both his clinical experience and his life as a parent, and reflects his belief that children thrive when their inner world is respected and their behavior is guided with warmth and clarity. Johannes lives with his family and continues to teach and write about emotional development and psychological health. Read more