About Reg Goes Swimming

Reg Goes Swimming is about a brown bear cub, Reg, who likes to climb trees, eat snacks, and sleep.  Most of all, Reg loves to swim in the creek.  Swimming is his plan on a beautiful spring day, upon waking from his winter’s nap, but a variety of obstacles to this highly anticipated activity, stall him from doing what he loves.  As the story unfolds, Reg must experience his emotions so as to regulate them.  Reg’s name is actually short for ‘regulate’.  His name is pronounced with a hard /g/ (rhymes with EGG).  At first glance, this appears to be a story with a simple message around feelings, but there is a deeper meaning to the story. The unfolding story of Reg’s day illustrates the process one can go through when becoming emotionally dysregulated via negative stressors, followed by thoughtful self-regulation, in which one returns to a state calm relaxation.

While Reg’s goal is to go swimming, a variety of challenges are posed to him, for which he must find a solution.  At first, his emotional reactions lead him toward emotional dysregulation.  With care and thoughtful problem solving, Reg uses three useful self-regulation strategies to regulate his emotions: positive self-talk, belly breathing, and reframing.  In every situation, Reg thinks out loud to examine his feelings, as well as continues an ongoing dialogue with himself, so as to come up with a solution for his struggles.  Reg returns to a state of calm, relaxed contentment once the solution for each problem has been found.