For grown-ups
SometimesTots is a gentle first look at thinking traps. A puppet feels something big and says a very big sentence: "I never get a turn", "nobody wants to play with me". Your child picks a truer, smaller sentence, and the puppet feels a little better.
The feeling is never wrong. Only the word was too big. "Never" and "always" thoughts make feelings bigger; a truer word keeps the feeling and makes it easier to carry.
At home, play Truer Words: when someone says never or always, ask together, "is there a truer word?" This is not therapy and does not diagnose anything. If your child often feels this way, talk to someone you trust.
Books and songs that help
Judith Viorst’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (1972) is a whole book of big words for a bad day, and a good one to read together and ask, “was it really the worst day ever?”
“The Power of Yet”, a Sesame Street song with Janelle Monáe (2014), turns “I can’t” into “I can’t do it yet”: another truer word.
What it never does
- No accounts, no ads, no tracking — anything kept stays on this device.
- No streaks, timers to beat, points to chase or leaderboards.
- No chat, and nothing anyone types is sent anywhere.