Joost Van Der Leij

Joost Being Bullied Joost Van Der Leij

The first picturebook Joost is happy: talking to young kids about emotions is meant for children between the age of three and six to teach them how to feel better with the turn-around-emotions technique. After the success of Joost is happy the question arose if we couldn't make a similar picturebook for young people between the age of eleven and fifteen. This has resulted in Joost being bullied because at this age bullying can be very upsetting. I used to be bullied a lot in the first two years of highschool. Later on I reversed roles and became a big bully myself. So I know from experience what could go wrong and how this could result in a bad solution. This booklet offers a far better suggestion. A negative self-image is replaced by a positive self-image. Nasty past experiences with bullying are being neutralized. A negative outlook on the future is replaced by a positive one. Stupid things that have been said or done will easily be made harmless. In this way Joost will be able to cope with bullying but the techniques are also applicable in a number of other situations.