Joost Is Happy

When at the age of thirty I learned how to deal with my emotions for the first time my immediate reaction was: I should have known this when I was fifteen - this could have prevented of lot of personal misery. The truth is that I should have learned how to handle them much earlier in life. In 'Joost is happy: talking with young kids about emotions' children are taught how they can handle their emotions effectively from an early age on. The consequence is that kids react as follows: It was not so badthat Joost was in a fight because it made him look funny, says Meintje (5). When I feel something like a black circle in my tummy it means I am angry and I take it out, turn it round and it becomes a purple-pink circle. I make the pink go round and round. Then I put it back into my tummy and I feel all happy again The donkey-ears I liked best At school when a kid is nasty to me I imagine her suddenly looking different, like a baby in a dirty diaper or so And then I start laughing out loud. The two girls first bulllying me all the time are now nice to me every day. And I like them a lot again.