The problem
Does this child have the vocabulary to express how they feel?
As an Educational Psychologist, I often work with children whose behaviour is causing concern for the adults around them. When a child's presenting behaviour indicates a level of underlying emotional distress, it can be difficult for parents and school staff to understand where this is coming from. When I explore the question, "Does this child have the vocabulary to express how they feel?" the answer is very often, "No." I frequently encounter children who have no emotions vocabulary beyond 'happy' and 'sad', and sometimes, 'angry'. Other children persistently use a vague word such as 'upset' for every unpleasant feeling.
Having the words to name how they feel gives a child the tools to literally 'come to terms' with their experiences. The absence of these tools presents a significant problem. Without this important language, children cannot fully understand and share their internal experiences. This leaves them with no option but to express big feelings through their actions and behaviour. Sometimes that expression is distressing, frightening, or even harmful — to themselves and to those around them.
The government's own white paper Every Child Achieving and Thriving (2026) highlights a significant concern for the emotional wellbeing of UK children. It reports that the UK ranks last out of 27 European countries for how happy 15-year-olds are with their life — and that the number of children who feel they belong at school is declining. By 2029, every school will be expected to monitor children's sense of belonging.
Children cannot meaningfully develop the strong, healthy social relationships needed to foster a sense of belonging if they do not have the vocabulary to understand their own and others' emotional experiences. The earlier a child can be equipped with the language to understand their feelings, the better they can also understand and relate to their friends and peers.
My solution
Give every child the words.
Emotional literacy support too often reaches only the children we're already worried about. But the ability to name, understand, and communicate feelings isn't a specialist skill for struggling children. It's a foundation that every child deserves — built through everyday language, consistent modelling, and the warm, persistent investment of adults who are willing to narrate their own emotional experience out loud.
That means putting the words somewhere every child can reach them.
I wanted to create a simple, affordable way for primary schools all over the UK to build emotional literacy into everyday classroom practice — something busy teachers can adopt seamlessly, for high impact and a low investment of time and money.
The book sits at the centre of a growing range of classroom resources, all built around the same 52 emotion words.