CLEVELAND — Ever heard the saying: "Don't rain on my parade?"
That's pretty much the life lesson that the main character learns in Misty The Cloud: A Very Stormy Day, which is a new book written by TODAY co-host and meteorologist Dylan Dreyer.
3News meteorologist and mental health advocate Hollie Strano sat down with Dreyer to discuss how the book came to be and why it's so important to her.
In the book, Misty the Cloud has some big feelings, which results in creating some bad weather that not everyone enjoys. She has to learn to control her emotions so as not to rain on everyone else’s day. In this new picture-book brand, Dreyer combines her extensive weather knowledge with her experience as a mom.
"It's hard for young kids to express their emotions -- and that's what we wanted to do with this book is express that it's OK to feel those feelings and to have a grumpy day," Dreyer says. "But it's what you do with those emotions that makes the difference because it does impact everyone around you."
Complete with information about storms and clouds -- as well as some fun weather-based activities -- Dreyer says Misty The Cloud will appeal to both parents and educators looking for books that teach science and emotional development to the youngest readers.
We asked her for advice on how she applies the book's knowledge to her own sons, now three with the birth of her newborn, Russel, and she says talking to them like you'd talk to adults is helpful! She shared this advice from an experience with her oldest, Calvin.
"So Calvin is kicking and screaming and doesn't want to do whatever I'm having him do in the moment, and I said 'Calvin do you want a hug?' He just looked at me and shook his head. So I gave him a hug, and we talked, and we actually had a real, full-on adult conversation," she says.
We also asked her how she's balancing life now as a mom of three. She says she works hard to maintain balance and still create moments solely for family time. She says lunch and dinner times are big in the family household.
"Breakfast, lunch and dinner, if I'm home, I make sure I stop whatever I'm doing, I make sure I spend the times with the kids," she says. "Especially dinner time, we all sit down together. There's no TV, there's no iPad, we just sit and we talk and we enjoy each other's company."
Dreyer says she's also working on more books in the brand coming in 2022. You can find the book, Misty The Cloud: A Very Stormy Day, out now, on Amazon and almost anywhere you buy books.
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