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Can you stop thinking? What will I be like as a teenager? Sander Thomaes, professor of Developmental Psychology at Utrecht ľ�ϸ���Ӱ��, answers these questions and more in his children's book (You are what you think). “I think that many children would take an interest in psychology if they could relate it to their own experiences”, says Thomaes. His book was released on 15 April.

Thomaes takes his readers (children aged 10 and up) on a journey through their heads. In the first pages of his book, the Utrecht professor likens psychologists to astronauts. “Without the cool suits, of course. But like astronauts, psychologists are on a journey of discovery. They're looking for new worlds, but inside our own minds instead of out in space. Inside, we explore planets like ‘Feeling’, ‘Thought’, ‘Behaviour’, ‘I’ and ‘School’.”

Most children have countless questions about themselves, other people and the world they live in.

Do grown-ups cry?

In short chapters (with names like ‘Why grown-ups never cry (or do they?)’ and ‘Are girls smarter than boys?’), Thomaes clearly explains the things that children might experience in terms of feeling, thought and behaviour. “Most children have countless questions about themselves, other people and the world they live in. Some of these questions are rather serious (‘how do you become who you are?’), while others are more innocent (‘why do some people sort their M&M's by colour before they eat them?’). I wanted to answer some of those questions using scientific insights. And I wanted to encourage children to explore these topics themselves and find their own answers.”

The book now consists of fifty short stories – a sort of introductory course in psychology, written especially for children.

Fifty questions

Thomaes does emphasise that his book is not about providing children with “lessons in psychology”. “When I started this book about two years ago, I knew it had to be relevant to the questions young children are asking.” Some of those questions Thomaes thought of himself, and others were offered by his own children. “At one point, I had a list of about a hundred questions that I wanted to answer from a psychological perspective. Of course, that was too much. So we made a selection and ended up with fifty questions. As a result, the book now consists of fifty short stories – a sort of introductory course in psychology, written especially for children.”

Pandemic project

Over the past two years, Thomaes has mainly been working on the book in between his other responsibilities. “It was truly a hobby. I very much enjoyed doing it. It was relaxing, actually. Recently, someone asked me whether it was a ‘pandemic project’. I hadn't really considered it, but looking back, I think they may be right: it was my pandemic project.”

Launch

The book launch took place at Utrecht bookstore Broese on 15 April. Thomaes was more nervous for that than he usually is for his lectures. “Yes, that book launch was much more exciting. There was a completely different audience: friends, family and colleagues, and many had brought their young children.”
Luckily, the event went as well as he had hoped – even the youngest members of the audience were listening intently to what he had to say. A few of the children present were even invited to read a passage from the book aloud. “One of them had said she would indicate whether she was too scared to come up and read during my presentation. And halfway through my story, I saw her give me a thumbs-up: she was going to read, she wasn't too scared.” Participants were also invited to take part in Thomaes’ psychology quiz. After a few rounds, the finalists were asked to give an estimate on how many years of their lives an 80-year-old would have spent sleeping. The winner received a free copy of Thomaes’ book. 
(If you are curious what the right answer was, be sure to check page 104 of the book.)

, with illustrations by Geert Gratema, is now available in bookstores.