Taking care of yourself with Ted and his friends may seem at first glance like any other children’s book, with its brightly colored cover, a cuddly protagonist and a cast of forest creatures, but beyond its cheerful plot and adorable characters, the book serves an important purpose: introduce children to the idea of taking care of themselves from a young age.
In this picture book, written by Najma Khorrami and illustrated by Maria Ballarin, children can follow Ted as he goes about his day, meeting up with friends and completing various tasks that demonstrate the importance of self-care. , whether by being kind to yourself and others, practicing gratitude, or understanding when it’s time to let go of things from the past.
And while the message is delivered in a cheerful, easy-to-understand format, it’s rooted in years of research on the subject — Khorrami has an involved background in the field, with a master’s degree in public health from George Washington University. She is also the creator of Gratitude Circle, an online platform and app that encourages users to promote gratitude, self-improvement, motivation, and stress management in their daily lives.
“Self Care with Ted and Friends” is just one of two recently published books by Khorrami, and although the styles are extremely different, both focus on the central themes of self-care and personal growth. To learn more about his research in a more adult context, his other book, A spoonful of gratitudeis a compilation of 68 articles published by Khorrami, spanning five years of research.
“What I wanted to do with this book was, initially, a reference compilation for myself over the next five or ten years,” Khorrami said. “But at the same time, prepare a compilation for others who, hopefully, as the Gratitude Circle grows, might be drawn to this topic and learn from the different self-care (and) self-improvement strategies which I wrote about. »
With this background in self-care research, Khorrami says she wanted to spread this message in a way that would allow children to quickly gain a foundation of understanding on this important topic.
“The idea was really to have this idea of ‘listening to our bodies,’ which is what we need, based on my understanding of the research, to get these young kids started really early,” Khorrami says.
“The pace of society, the pace of daily activities, is only increasing. I don’t know if it’s going to come back to a slower pace, but if we don’t take care of ourselves, this idea of stress management will just become impossible for the next generation,” she says.
At some point in Taking care of yourself with Ted and his friendsTed decides to release the fireflies he had captured earlier into the forest, a gesture that symbolizes the process of letting go of things from the past.
To spread the message and promote his book, Khorrami has made virtual and in-person visits to area schools, including Parklawn Elementary in Alexandria, Centerville Elementary and Karter School in Sterling. In April, Khorrami plans to visit his own former elementary school, Greenbriar West, in Fairfax.
During these visits, she can read her book to students and encourage them to start thinking about what it means to take care of themselves. And while she says most kids weren’t familiar with terms like “self-care,” they could grasp the concepts and understand what it meant — especially when raised in terms and with scenarios adapted to their age.
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