How the Honey Bees and a Battery Came to Be
Welcome to the very first Honey Bees blog post. Since this is the first one, it seems appropriate to start at the beginning. It all started Christmas morning in 2022 when almost every toy my two boys received required a charging cord. Not only did I need to organize all these toys with their respective cords but the kids needed to wait for them to charge before they could play, which is a challenging task considering all the excitement that encompasses such a big morning. But little did I know that this small moment would soon lead to a wonderful metaphor that helped me communicate my needs to my kids, and would launch my career as an author.
One morning during that Christmas break I was feeling run down and needed some time to rest. Both boys were excitedly vying for my attention and I was not ready to play. Past experiences would lead me to one of two options, I would give in, repressing my own needs and feeling the resentment or sensory overload building, or I would stand my ground but usually resort to yelling as a way to make my point firm. Both options left me feeling crummy and created poor modeling for communication and emotional regulation to my kids. Thankfully, this morning, the idea of all those chargers and remote control toys was fresh in my mind. I said to my boys, “Remember how all your trucks need to charge? Right now, Mommy is charging her battery and I will be ready to play soon”. To my utter surprise, both boys said, “OK”, and walked away to play amongst themselves. I sat and drank my coffee, successfully resting, and without any guilt.
Over the next few weeks, I would use this metaphor often to communicate my need for rest, and it stuck so quickly that my husband and parents started using it too. The boys conceptually understood (at the time 4 and 2 years old) that the adults just needed a moment, and that their own needs would be met soon. Using the metaphor of a toy battery, gave them a visual image and time frame they understood from their own experiences. The concept was so helpful to me and my family, that I felt driven to share it with others. When it came down to creating characters, it was only appropriate to use inspiration from the nickname my oldest son had given me, Honey Bee. The rest is history, as they say, and the writing and illustration process began. After a year of being self-published, The Honey Bees book series is now proudly published by Chesapeake Publication, a publishing house focusing on mental health issues. If you think the battery metaphor will help you and your family, you can order my book, The Honey Bees: Recharge Mommy Bee online from Amazon Walmart, or Barnes and Noble. Thank you for visiting my first blog post, please take some time to recharge your batteries today,
Katie
