September 1, 2024 • 10 mins
Author Jen Shuey is in to talk about her book that can help kids deal with anger.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
All right, time for a very important conversation, and think
about it. How many times do you get angry in
a day, in a week, in a month. We all
get there, don't we, Michayla?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
We do, and I think you know, kids in twenty
twenty four get there more easily than when we when
your kids were born, when my parents had us, And
so I think their anger and the way they're triggered
looks different than we even as adults.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
But do you think it's a funny thing? Do you
think anger is a funny thing?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I typically don't think about it being funny, especially when
I'm experiencing it.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Well, we have an author who wrote a book called
Anger is a Funny Thing. It is written by Jenshewey
of Westerville, Ohio, and on the back it says, have
you ever felt angry when something happened? Did the anger
surprise you? This book is here to help you know
that you're not alone. Jen, Welcome to What Matters Show
(00:56):
And thanks for writing that book. Why did you write
that book?
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (00:59):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 5 (01:00):
You know, when my second child I have four was
four years old, they went through just like outburst and
outburst of anger and it led to a lot of
conversations surrounding anger and why they were feeling these feelings.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
And so after you know.
Speaker 5 (01:22):
One of these conversations, I sat down and I just
started writing.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
And that's how this book came about.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
And were you writing for a living? Was the writing
in any part of your profession, like or were you
just a journal er?
Speaker 4 (01:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (01:35):
So I've I've always wrote to kind of work through
my own feelings, and it's easier for me to put
things into word if I have time to kind of
ruminate over them. So I, you know, talking to James,
I was, you know, putting things into words that James
would understand. And so I was like, you know, anger
(01:58):
is a funny thing because anger is not what's it's
the biggest, it's the most visual aspect, but it's not
what's underneath. You know. Anger is the outward appearance of
something else, and it's a warning sign telling us, you know,
that something's wrong, and we got to figure out what
(02:19):
is you know, putting this anger forth.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
So when I was like, you know, anger is a
funny thing.
Speaker 5 (02:25):
All their feelings are involved, and I was like, oh,
I should write that down, you know, and it just
kind of stemmed from there.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
So it's a children's book, but I think some adults
may get something out of it too. When someone picks
up this book, it's an easy read. What do you
want them to get out of it? Is it more
for kids or do you want them to you know,
want to reach adults.
Speaker 5 (02:43):
Also, Yeah, I think it's it can cross multiple generations.
I think as an adult, you know, sometimes it takes
us to kind of put it in smaller words, to go, oh, yeah,
I should probably look into that.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
And why am I angry about that? You know?
Speaker 5 (03:00):
Anywhere from social justice issues. You know, people get worked up,
they get angry, but you know why are you're angry?
Speaker 4 (03:08):
Well, it's injustice. It's telling you that you're hurt, you know.
Speaker 5 (03:11):
So it really does span generations, and it's a helpful
reminder at the end of the day for anyone who
deals with anger.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
You know, one of the things that I think is
hardest to talk with kids about is when they're in
the middle of the madness, right like, they're in the
chaos that is anger. So walk us through the character
of the book and a little bit of what happens
and how this does create these better conversations about anger.
Speaker 5 (03:39):
Yeah, So I really intentionally made it short and with
big visuals because you know, that's kind of how kids communicate,
and if they see something on the page they can
relate to, they're more likely to go, oh, yeah, that
happened to me.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
That is what I was feeling.
Speaker 5 (03:58):
And in the background of the book, this is kind
of more of this one of the subtle details, but
the background color at the end correlates to a feeling
that I have like laid out, and that was just
to kind of, you know, ask start the conversation of
what is.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
My anger telling me?
Speaker 5 (04:17):
You know, what am I feeling in this moment.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
So a friend of ours, doctor Kathy Fullup, is listening.
She's been listening all afternoon. Well, her mother is in town,
so we have to say hi to Barbara. But this
is something Hi, Barbara, that doctor Fullup could have in
their office when you have kids, you know, going to
see the doctor, and they have different books laying around
there that they could easily pick up while waiting to
go see a doctor. And I want to read something
(04:43):
because you sent me a note that a counselor at
Handby Elementary wrote about your book, and it says, as
an elementary school counselor. Anger is a funny thing. Is
an awesome bibliotherapy tool to help students understand that anger
is an important clue that some might be missing. For us,
I've said for years that anger is a secondary emotion
(05:04):
that we need to look deeper to meet our needs.
So that's a pretty big compliment coming from an elementary
school teacher in Westerville, a counselor.
Speaker 5 (05:12):
Rather.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
Yeah, she.
Speaker 5 (05:15):
Has just been like the backbone of my kids because
my kids started kindergarten and first grade, you know, COVID years,
and that came with.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
A lot of big feelings.
Speaker 5 (05:23):
Yeah, a lot of separation, anxiety, a lot of anger.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
You know, it all just comes out at the same time.
Speaker 5 (05:28):
And man, she was just the backbone of our school community.
And so when I wrote it, I was like, I
got to give this to Miss Fancy.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
I gotta give her a copy.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
And she was the first person I gave a copy to.
And she's like, oh, I really like I want to
use this in my classroom.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
But it's like, oh my gosh, really that's so cool.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yeah, that shows you how effective the lesson is and
how effective it is to communicate to kids.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Yeah, we're gonna give one away. Mckaylen.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
We are, so you guys, if you like a copy
of this book. Six one nine eight eight six six
one four eight two one WTVN, let's take the second caller.
Does that sound good?
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Mendy, sounds perfect?
Speaker 4 (06:09):
Okay, we have a caller right here, Mikayla.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
We do Kathy, Kathy, are you on the line to
tell a ticket story?
Speaker 3 (06:16):
If I'm listening about the book, it sounds great?
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Oh, well, do you want the book?
Speaker 3 (06:21):
My brain is going off the wall here because I
know that being a long time forever Ohio resident, Ohio
state tickets are primo. Okay. I would love to see
them do something with them other than just like I mean,
I got two graduates out of the flour and whatever.
(06:41):
But my my daughter is a teacher at a I
won't say what system, but not a high dollars school system,
and I would love to see maybe do a raffle four.
Like I said, the brain's going a mile a minute here.
(07:04):
Something for food insecurity as they call it, I call
it hunger. She has a student that she has a
cart in the room that when kids have leftover, you know,
lunch items, they go on the cart and whatever and
the poor kids. Oh does up this book back every
day to take home to us brothers. But anyway, I
(07:27):
would love to see it. So they could maybe do
a raffle and do a cart for the you know,
in the main cafeteria.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
You know what, that's a great idea. Why don't you
give your information to our producer and we will give
that idea to Benjay who is giving away his own
personal tickets. But that's a great idea. We appreciate you
calling in, and also it.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
Also volunteers would make a wish. Yeah, and that would
be another place and I'm sure they'd be okay.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Kathy, Yeah, hang on the line.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
Give your inform to Hannah. Thank you. We have our
winner of the book.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
We were giving away tickets earlier, yes we did, Jen,
I should we should tell you that. But Danielle is
the winner of the book. Danielle, what made you want
to call in.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
To get the book?
Speaker 2 (08:12):
I think it's fantastic, But I'm curious what made you
think to call Oh?
Speaker 6 (08:16):
I think it sounds fantastic. I'm anxious to see the
whole thing and to be able to read it to
my grandchildren. And I think that that's something that a
lot of students need to understand how to process their emotions.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
And it's tough.
Speaker 6 (08:31):
I mean, she mentioned COVID time and stuff. It did
not do your kids any favors. And I think that
we're just now getting to the point where they're learning
how to be social again, and they have to understand
what's making them upset and how they can handle it
in a way that's not flashing out.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
How many grandchildren do you have, Danielle, I have five?
Oh my goodness, what are the ages.
Speaker 6 (08:54):
Six four, four one and one?
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Six four, four one and one? In here? Our author
Jen has four kids, three boys and a daughter. Do
you want to say anything to her?
Speaker 4 (09:05):
You can talk to her.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Yeah, Well, thank you for the idea.
Speaker 6 (09:09):
Thank you for putting pen to paper and making that happen.
I think that's just something that we need to support
and embrace more with young authors. And I think that
anytime parents has an idea like that, that they should
definitely follow suit with it because parent thing is a
very very challenging, most rewarding job, and I think that
(09:32):
you're must be joining an excellent job.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
So thank you, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
We love when we make these Benja who just walked
out of here, the director of Warm. He wants me
to hook you up with you. He thinks he's going
to find some homes for that book like that'll.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Oh, it's absolutely perfect. Well, Jen, thank you for coming on.
What's the name of the book again and where can
people get it?
Speaker 5 (09:57):
So it's called Anger is a Funny Thing. And right
now I'm entirely self published, so I have me Mindy
has a link to a QR code that you can
request a book if you would like and.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Put it on our what Matters page too. We did
because we interviewed her for Spectrum.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Yeah, okay, we did that, so we'll go through the
QR or up against the break. But thank you so
much for coming in and sharing your talent. And it
sounds like a book that could be really important for kids.
So really appreciate your time.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Thank you so much for having me and for giving
it away to this grandmother.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
That's going to be awesome.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
It's a nice book, you guys. Look it up. Anger
is a funny thing. They say, I'm a funny thing too.
We'll find out when we come back.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
This is What Matters on sixteen WTV in
All right, time for a very important conversation, and think
about it. How many times do you get angry in
a day, in a week, in a month. We all
get there, don't we, Michayla?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
We do, and I think you know, kids in twenty
twenty four get there more easily than when we when
your kids were born, when my parents had us, And
so I think their anger and the way they're triggered
looks different than we even as adults.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
But do you think it's a funny thing? Do you
think anger is a funny thing?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I typically don't think about it being funny, especially when
I'm experiencing it.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Well, we have an author who wrote a book called
Anger is a Funny Thing. It is written by Jenshewey
of Westerville, Ohio, and on the back it says, have
you ever felt angry when something happened? Did the anger
surprise you? This book is here to help you know
that you're not alone. Jen, Welcome to What Matters Show
(00:56):
And thanks for writing that book. Why did you write
that book?
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (00:59):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 5 (01:00):
You know, when my second child I have four was
four years old, they went through just like outburst and
outburst of anger and it led to a lot of
conversations surrounding anger and why they were feeling these feelings.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
And so after you know.
Speaker 5 (01:22):
One of these conversations, I sat down and I just
started writing.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
And that's how this book came about.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
And were you writing for a living? Was the writing
in any part of your profession, like or were you
just a journal er?
Speaker 4 (01:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (01:35):
So I've I've always wrote to kind of work through
my own feelings, and it's easier for me to put
things into word if I have time to kind of
ruminate over them. So I, you know, talking to James,
I was, you know, putting things into words that James
would understand. And so I was like, you know, anger
(01:58):
is a funny thing because anger is not what's it's
the biggest, it's the most visual aspect, but it's not
what's underneath. You know. Anger is the outward appearance of
something else, and it's a warning sign telling us, you know,
that something's wrong, and we got to figure out what
(02:19):
is you know, putting this anger forth.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
So when I was like, you know, anger is a
funny thing.
Speaker 5 (02:25):
All their feelings are involved, and I was like, oh,
I should write that down, you know, and it just
kind of stemmed from there.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
So it's a children's book, but I think some adults
may get something out of it too. When someone picks
up this book, it's an easy read. What do you
want them to get out of it? Is it more
for kids or do you want them to you know,
want to reach adults.
Speaker 5 (02:43):
Also, Yeah, I think it's it can cross multiple generations.
I think as an adult, you know, sometimes it takes
us to kind of put it in smaller words, to go, oh, yeah,
I should probably look into that.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
And why am I angry about that? You know?
Speaker 5 (03:00):
Anywhere from social justice issues. You know, people get worked up,
they get angry, but you know why are you're angry?
Speaker 4 (03:08):
Well, it's injustice. It's telling you that you're hurt, you know.
Speaker 5 (03:11):
So it really does span generations, and it's a helpful
reminder at the end of the day for anyone who
deals with anger.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
You know, one of the things that I think is
hardest to talk with kids about is when they're in
the middle of the madness, right like, they're in the
chaos that is anger. So walk us through the character
of the book and a little bit of what happens
and how this does create these better conversations about anger.
Speaker 5 (03:39):
Yeah, So I really intentionally made it short and with
big visuals because you know, that's kind of how kids communicate,
and if they see something on the page they can
relate to, they're more likely to go, oh, yeah, that
happened to me.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
That is what I was feeling.
Speaker 5 (03:58):
And in the background of the book, this is kind
of more of this one of the subtle details, but
the background color at the end correlates to a feeling
that I have like laid out, and that was just
to kind of, you know, ask start the conversation of
what is.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
My anger telling me?
Speaker 5 (04:17):
You know, what am I feeling in this moment.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
So a friend of ours, doctor Kathy Fullup, is listening.
She's been listening all afternoon. Well, her mother is in town,
so we have to say hi to Barbara. But this
is something Hi, Barbara, that doctor Fullup could have in
their office when you have kids, you know, going to
see the doctor, and they have different books laying around
there that they could easily pick up while waiting to
go see a doctor. And I want to read something
(04:43):
because you sent me a note that a counselor at
Handby Elementary wrote about your book, and it says, as
an elementary school counselor. Anger is a funny thing. Is
an awesome bibliotherapy tool to help students understand that anger
is an important clue that some might be missing. For us,
I've said for years that anger is a secondary emotion
(05:04):
that we need to look deeper to meet our needs.
So that's a pretty big compliment coming from an elementary
school teacher in Westerville, a counselor.
Speaker 5 (05:12):
Rather.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
Yeah, she.
Speaker 5 (05:15):
Has just been like the backbone of my kids because
my kids started kindergarten and first grade, you know, COVID years,
and that came with.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
A lot of big feelings.
Speaker 5 (05:23):
Yeah, a lot of separation, anxiety, a lot of anger.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
You know, it all just comes out at the same time.
Speaker 5 (05:28):
And man, she was just the backbone of our school community.
And so when I wrote it, I was like, I
got to give this to Miss Fancy.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
I gotta give her a copy.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
And she was the first person I gave a copy to.
And she's like, oh, I really like I want to
use this in my classroom.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
But it's like, oh my gosh, really that's so cool.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yeah, that shows you how effective the lesson is and
how effective it is to communicate to kids.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Yeah, we're gonna give one away. Mckaylen.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
We are, so you guys, if you like a copy
of this book. Six one nine eight eight six six
one four eight two one WTVN, let's take the second caller.
Does that sound good?
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Mendy, sounds perfect?
Speaker 4 (06:09):
Okay, we have a caller right here, Mikayla.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
We do Kathy, Kathy, are you on the line to
tell a ticket story?
Speaker 3 (06:16):
If I'm listening about the book, it sounds great?
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Oh, well, do you want the book?
Speaker 3 (06:21):
My brain is going off the wall here because I
know that being a long time forever Ohio resident, Ohio
state tickets are primo. Okay. I would love to see
them do something with them other than just like I mean,
I got two graduates out of the flour and whatever.
(06:41):
But my my daughter is a teacher at a I
won't say what system, but not a high dollars school system,
and I would love to see maybe do a raffle four.
Like I said, the brain's going a mile a minute here.
(07:04):
Something for food insecurity as they call it, I call
it hunger. She has a student that she has a
cart in the room that when kids have leftover, you know,
lunch items, they go on the cart and whatever and
the poor kids. Oh does up this book back every
day to take home to us brothers. But anyway, I
(07:27):
would love to see it. So they could maybe do
a raffle and do a cart for the you know,
in the main cafeteria.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
You know what, that's a great idea. Why don't you
give your information to our producer and we will give
that idea to Benjay who is giving away his own
personal tickets. But that's a great idea. We appreciate you
calling in, and also it.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
Also volunteers would make a wish. Yeah, and that would
be another place and I'm sure they'd be okay.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Kathy, Yeah, hang on the line.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
Give your inform to Hannah. Thank you. We have our
winner of the book.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
We were giving away tickets earlier, yes we did, Jen,
I should we should tell you that. But Danielle is
the winner of the book. Danielle, what made you want
to call in.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
To get the book?
Speaker 2 (08:12):
I think it's fantastic, But I'm curious what made you
think to call Oh?
Speaker 6 (08:16):
I think it sounds fantastic. I'm anxious to see the
whole thing and to be able to read it to
my grandchildren. And I think that that's something that a
lot of students need to understand how to process their emotions.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
And it's tough.
Speaker 6 (08:31):
I mean, she mentioned COVID time and stuff. It did
not do your kids any favors. And I think that
we're just now getting to the point where they're learning
how to be social again, and they have to understand
what's making them upset and how they can handle it
in a way that's not flashing out.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
How many grandchildren do you have, Danielle, I have five?
Oh my goodness, what are the ages.
Speaker 6 (08:54):
Six four, four one and one?
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Six four, four one and one? In here? Our author
Jen has four kids, three boys and a daughter. Do
you want to say anything to her?
Speaker 4 (09:05):
You can talk to her.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Yeah, Well, thank you for the idea.
Speaker 6 (09:09):
Thank you for putting pen to paper and making that happen.
I think that's just something that we need to support
and embrace more with young authors. And I think that
anytime parents has an idea like that, that they should
definitely follow suit with it because parent thing is a
very very challenging, most rewarding job, and I think that
(09:32):
you're must be joining an excellent job.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
So thank you, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
We love when we make these Benja who just walked
out of here, the director of Warm. He wants me
to hook you up with you. He thinks he's going
to find some homes for that book like that'll.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Oh, it's absolutely perfect. Well, Jen, thank you for coming on.
What's the name of the book again and where can
people get it?
Speaker 5 (09:57):
So it's called Anger is a Funny Thing. And right
now I'm entirely self published, so I have me Mindy
has a link to a QR code that you can
request a book if you would like and.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Put it on our what Matters page too. We did
because we interviewed her for Spectrum.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Yeah, okay, we did that, so we'll go through the
QR or up against the break. But thank you so
much for coming in and sharing your talent. And it
sounds like a book that could be really important for kids.
So really appreciate your time.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Thank you so much for having me and for giving
it away to this grandmother.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
That's going to be awesome.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
It's a nice book, you guys. Look it up. Anger
is a funny thing. They say, I'm a funny thing too.
We'll find out when we come back.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
This is What Matters on sixteen WTV in
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