Customer Reviews

Moody Cow Meditates

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I liked the author's prior book on meditation for kids, Peaceful Piggy Meditation, but I think I like this one even better. It is funnier, and teaches a meditation that many preschool and elementary age children will love. The story centers around a young cow/boy who has had a VERY bad day (thus earning him the nickname 'moody cow'). He has a bad dream, his sister bugs him, he misses the school bus, he gets in a bicycle accident - like I said, a VERY bad day. And he gets VERY angry. To help calm him down, his grandfather helps him make a 'mind-jar', where sparkles swirling in agitated water represent his angry thoughts. Then he 'meditates' on the mind-jar by watching it until all the sparkles settle peacefully at the bottom. At that point, of course, he is feeling much better himself too.
Not only is this a great way to introduce meditation (instructions for the mind-jar are included in the back), but it also provides a way to talk about difficult emotions, and the situations in kid's lives that make them feel that way, in an open and non-punitive fashion. And it's appropriate for parents, teachers, and kids of any religious (or non-religious) background - meditation is not presented within a religious framework. Highly recommend!

EDIT 7/9/10 - I came back to edit this review after reading some of the other reviews. It is true that there is a lot more anger represented in this book than others, and that moody cow's expression of that anger - and his sister's - are pretty aggressive. And the mother's initial reaction to the behavior is punitive. But personally, I feel it has a fairy tale feel to it, because the characters are animals, and so these actions trigger discussion, but aren't presented as models for behavior. My own kid's did gasp the first time we read this book, when he broke the window, in the way they might gasp at a dragon battle or whatnot in another kind of story. I think the value is in triggering discussion, and letting kids feel like we all make mistakes, as opposed to trying to 'regulate' what they are exposed to. Of course what age to do that at is a personal parental decision.

I have a very bright, emotionally intense six year old who's best friend loaned us this book a few days ago. We love it! I went out today to buy the fixings to make our own "mind jars"- my son is absolutely fascinated by the idea (he calls it a mad jar). At a playdate this afternoon he related the entire story almost verbatim to another friend, who now also wants to go out and get this book so he can make his own mad jar. Just think, we could end up with a whole population of six-year olds who know how to meditate! Fabulous!

I got this book for my Moody Cow daughter, 7 years old, but found that my 5 and 4 year old really benefitted from the simple act of letting their angry thoughts settle using the technique described in this book. It really works well because it is multi-sensory... VISUAL - kids watch as sparkles sink to the bottom of the jar. AUDITORY - they listen to gong to begin the meditation, and again at the end. EMOTIONAL - The grandfather listens to his grandson's misfortunate day, and EMPATHIZES as he goes along.

We purchased this book for my sweet & sensitive 4yo boy's birthday. We read and loved Peaceful Piggy, which was rec. by a friend. I do like Moody Cow Meditates, however I do not recommend it for kids younger than 6 for a few reasons: the book is about having an awful day that gets worse and worse and then what 'moody cow' does to feel better & release the negative energy (the mind jar meditation). I love the solution (the meditation) but do not care for the focus on having a terrible day. I have purposely never even suggested you can have a terrible day to my 4yo, and instead have taught him how he can create his day. I do not use words such as 'terrible, awful, rotten' so, we have to delete these words in the beginning of the story, along with ideas such as throwing a ball at a window. I can see how older kids could relate to this (or kids with siblings), and these words are not uncommon to them even if their parents do not use them. Even with this caveat for younger kids, the message in this book is wonderful and I do recommend this book and ALL of her other books! I definitely rec. Peaceful Piggy for the young ones - ages 3 and up. I teach yoga & meditation classes to kids, and we learn tools to release negative energy. I definitely plan to add all of her books to my lending library for kids (ages 6-14).

Adults deal with very complex emotions and kids do too, of course. However, I feel the author doesnt do a good job of tailoring it for kids (i.e. why we feel angry, and that it's ok to get angry). Rather I felt that the book bombards the reader with a lot of negative emotions and could have taken a softer, more pleasant approach. Is it really necessary for Daisy to trip the Moody Bull down the stairs to get her back for pulling her tail?? Another example... "Well, you can understand that with a bloody knee and a banged up nose, I was madder than ever. ("I think I broke my nose" reads a caption) Super Mad!" "....threw baseball bat through the window." (Banged up knee and possbile broken nose, I think medical attention is in order, not meditation) Very extreme and not the sort of influences I want to give a child. Too bad, the ideas are there and the Peaceful Piggy Series is great.

"Moody Cow Meditates" is a fantastic book that introduces parents, and children, to an ingenious activity that children can get involved with, and seemingly, have the attention span to accomplish.

Peter, now known as Moody Cow, is having an extremely horrible day. His sister ruins on of his things, he trips down some stairs and falls off of his bike. The day couldn't get any worse, but it does for Moody Cow.

After these unfortunate events, his mom calls in the cavalry, his "Zen-like" grandpa. Moody Cow enters a room where his grandpa is sitting in meditation, so Moody sits on a cushion as well. His grandpa grabs a jar full of water and compares the jar to Moody's mind. He also introduces a bowl full of sparkles, and compares them to Moody's angry thoughts.


Moody is taught to grab a pinch of the sparkles and drop them into the jar, as he is doing so he is taught to visualize each pinch as one moment that affected his day. After putting several pinches of sparkles into the jar, it is capped and shaken. His grandpa goes onto explain that this is how his mind is, cluttered by all of the angry thoughts. Moody is taught to sit and watch the jar, to just breathe and watch the bad feelings settle in the jar.

This book is a true gem to those of us with children and that struggle with trying to teach them meditation. I've tried a few times with my son, but his attention span is like that umm, of a kid. He desperately wants to do it, but fidgets.

The last page of the book explains how to set up the meditaion that Moody and his grandpa did. I can't wait to try this as I think it will help my son understand what meditation really is. I cannot recommend this book enough to other parents who are trying to help their children understand and implement meditation.

I was delighted with this book and eager to share it with pre-schoolers I know. It handles feelings very well and acknowledges the veracity of feelings for little ones. It also gives you an out (quiet meditation) to help process those feelings without all the psycho-babble. This is one of my top kids books along with Fraidy Squirrel and Everyone Poops.

I'm a child psychologist practicing nonviolent parenting with my own 2 y.o. and 5 y.o. I was looking for something to reinforce what I'm trying to teach about empathy, kindness, and compassion. Both of my children love this book. I love that it embraces all emotions wo judgement, plus the story is cute and entertaining. It's brought humor into our "moody cow moments" and a new way to talk about them. My 5 y.o. is even asking to meditate!

I teach children with emotional disturbance and they really connected with this book. the idea of knowing that everyone gets angry and that there are different ways you can deal with it shines through here, and takes out the negative association some might have with meditation.

I purchased this for my 5-yr old grandson who typically has problems settling down from a distressing situation but...I have a class of 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 yr olds and am planning on imlementing this book with them. Just reading this, even calmed me down. (maybe it was the thought that this might just work!)