11/02/2025
What To Do With a Worry?
Did you know worries are a lot like tomato plants? 🍅
As Dawn Huebner explains in What To Do When You Worry Too Much, the more attention, sunlight, and “watering” (talking about them all day long) we give them — the more they grow! Until suddenly, our whole garden is full of worries and there’s no room left for anything else!
So what do we do?
👉 Objectify the worry! Give it a name. Talk back to it.
Worries are like little creatures — bugs, monsters, or bullies — who grow bigger when we feed them with fear, but shrink when we stand up to them and stop listening.
Some of our favorite stories to help kids learn this idea:
📘 What To Do When You Worry Too Much by Dawn Huebner
📗 Don’t Feed the WorryBug by Andi Green
📙 The Worry Box by Suzanne Chiew & Sean Julian
📒 Worry Says What? by Allison Edwards
💭 Try this activity!
Create a Worry Monster - use pom poms, googly eyes, and imagination!
On small strips of paper, write down the things your worry monster says:
📢”You’ll never be good at gymnastics.”
📢No one wants to be your friend.”
📢Something bad will happen.”
Then, take turns talking back to the worry monster:
💬 “I am learning and getting better.”
💬 “My friends do like me.”
💬 “My home and toys are safe.”
📦 Make a Worry Box (a tissue box or small container works great!).
Put those worries inside — this is their safe place to stay.
Set a short Worry Time (no more than 15 minutes/day) to open the box, read the worries together, and then close the lid until tomorrow.
When a worry fades away, tear it up and toss it — it’s gone! ✨
This helps kids reframe automatic negative thoughts (ANTs) and take their power back — one worry at a time.
