What is shame?

Shame is when you feel like something bad happened because of you, and it makes your heart feel heavy.

Imagine you’re playing with your favorite toy, maybe a red ball that bounces really high. You throw it hard, but it goes flying out the window. You look at the broken glass on the floor and think, “I broke the window.” That’s shame: it's like the red ball suddenly became heavy and warm, and now you feel like everyone knows what you did.

When you're feeling shame, it’s like wearing a big, invisible coat that makes everything harder. You might not want to talk to your friends or play with your toy anymore, because part of you thinks “Maybe they’ll be mad at me too.”

Sometimes people feel shame when they make a mistake, or when someone else points out something they did. It’s like when your teacher says, “You forgot your homework again,” and suddenly everything feels harder to do.

But remember, even the red ball can bounce back!