Feelings Are Like the Weather: Crying Is Like the Rain by Heather Hawk Feinberg

ONE DAY I HEARD SOMEONE SPECIAL SAY, "FEELINGS ARE LIKE THE WEATHER. THEY COME AND GO."

A mom, a girl, and her younger brother are getting set up for what looks like a rainy walk to school, and as she gathers her rain gear, the girl can't help thinking about that.

"WELL, IF FEELINGS ARE LIKE THE WEATHER THEN CRYING IS LIKE THE RAIN."

As the two children walk to school, the girl considers her mother's analogy. Yes, sometimes people wish that rain wouldn't come. Like crying that is shushed, rain is wished away, only to be hoped for later. Crying makes people feel that something is wrong, a worrying or even scary thing. Frustration gathers like a tornado, breaks open like an earthquake, bringing waves like a hurricane. Things have gotten out of balance, like the earth when the heat and humidity is too high, and loud, dark, scary storms come with a thunderous voice. But then the rain ends, the balance is restored, and the sun comes out once more.

EARTH FEELS FRESH AND NEW.

And, the girl reasons, feeling are like that.

TEARS HELP CLEAR THE MIND AND THE HEART AND THE BODY FEEL CLEAR AND CALM AFTER THE STORM.

WE NEED OUR TEARS AS THE EARTH NEEDS RAIN.

In language that young children can understand, Heather Hawk Feinberg's new Crying is Like the Rain: A Story of Mindfulness and FeelingsTilbury House, 2021) uses her nature metaphor to help youngsters understand the ebb and flow of normal emotions. As she ends her text, "We are not our feelings; they come and go." After all, rain always ends and rainbows can follow the rain. Using a sophisticated literary device, deepened and interpreted by artist Chamisa Kellogg's sensitive illustrations, this book is useful as a way to help children interpret and accept the ebb and flow of emotions and keep their eyes on the possibility of a rainbow in the calm after the storm. As the old aphorism tells us, "Into each life some rain must fall." Says Publishers Weekly, ... "the book stands as a reliable entrée for adults to support young readers’ emotional processing."