​Iris has found that one of the best things about being a butterfly is that often people don’t notice you are there at all, which is good because you can really get to know and understand a person, just by sitting quietly and putting yourself into their shoes. The shoes part is tricky as butterflies don’t tend to wear them! I am joking, as you may well know putting yourself in someone else’s shoes just means thinking what it would be like to be that person.

Iris is very good at this, she has a magical superpower called empathy. Empathy is the ability to imagine how someone else is feeling and the best way to do it is to pretend that you are the other person and think about how you would feel if you were. Sounds confusing doesn’t it? But it’s not really. Iris will help me to explain...

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Arthur Penny is six years old. He has lovely curly brown hair and a smattering of pale freckles across his nose. When he smiles, Arthur has the kind of smile which lights up his whole face and dimples his cheeks. But Arthur hasn’t smiled much lately because Arthur feels cross, Arthur feels sad and Arthur feels like pushing everyone away. He has used unkind words and unkind feet, he has kicked the wall and sometimes he kicks people! ​

Iris has noticed Arthur around school. She has watched him, really watched him closely and has noticed that Arthur doesn’t look glad that he is upsetting people. He just doesn’t seem to know what to do about the way he is feeling and the angrier he becomes the harder it is for him to ask for help or to explain his scary feelings. Arthur knows lots and lots of words but can’t seem to put them into the right order at all to explain things, so he shouts and kicks instead.

However, Iris knows that Arthur’s Nan has died and right now his feelings just seem as if they are too big for him to hold inside. But using her superpower Iris can imagine how it might feel to be missing someone you love and how bad it must feel to know that you can’t see them anymore. Iris is really good at helping people. She’s gentle and kind. Her softly spoken words have helped Arthur to begin to understand the way he’s feeling and she’s reminded him that there are people who can help him when the feelings are too big to keep inside.

Something that has helped Arthur is a special trick that Iris has taught him. It’s called rainbow breath. If he feels those fluttering uncomfortable feelings beginning in his tummy he imagines slowly climbing a beautiful rainbow as he breaths in, then imagines gently sliding down the other side as he’s breathing out. Rainbow breathing calms his tummy and makes his jumbled feelings feel smaller, easier to handle.

The magical thing about Iris’ superpower is that anyone can have it. You may have it yourself already or be lucky enough to know someone who does.

​Written by Mrs Burrows