Family publishes workbook to highlight emotional challenges of dealing with pandemic

A family shares their incredible journey in taking the challenges of COVID-19 and turning it into something positive. 

The Lee family came up with a workbook titled, Big Changes, New Adventures: A COVID Feeling Workbook. The couple's 11-year-old daughter was the inspiration behind the workbook and she even helped create it!

It wasn't easy for John and Shearin Lee to watch their daughter Aliyah navigate through all the emotions, as she tried to adjust to her new reality because of the pandemic.

"We were taken aback, we felt helpless at times, overwhelmed, scared... I don’t know what to tell her... as parents, it was the hardest thing for us," said Shearin Lee, co-author/creator.

"When we saw some of the emotional turmoil Aliyah was dealing with -- suddenly, life changes overnight. Suddenly, she’s not seeing her friends. She’s not seeing her teachers, her social network is just gone overnight -- Poof, gone," said John Lee, co-author/creator.

Shearin came up with this great idea to share what her family was feeling with others. The family began drafting ideas and activities to work on as a Summer 2020 project.

"It helped me realized there are way more feelings you can feel at once. I feel a lot happier now that this workbook is out and some people are buying and I have been hearing that it’s helping lots of people," said Aliyah Lee.

"Our main focus with this was to send out a message of wholeness. It’s right there in the beginning of our book, it’s very important to us that everyone learns that emotions that we normally think of as negative -- scared, sad, mad -- they all have something to teach us. A lot of people wait until they’re adults to try to figure this stuff out," said Shearin.

So they translated these emotions and life lessons into something kid-friendly. Kids can now explore and process the five universal emotions. Also, families can get a brief breakdown on what COVID-19 is and how it has impacted the world. Furthermore, kids can keep themselves busy with tons of activities like writing exercises, drawings, coloring, breathing techniques and movement activities.

You can click here for more information on the book. The workbook is recommended for kids between the ages of 8 and 12. However, you can get kids to do these exercises with an adult. The content has even been reviewed by a Ph.D. psychologist.

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