While both the “buck up” and “bubble wrap” approaches are rooted in good intentions, they both fail to help kids do hard things and acknowledge emotions. We all want the kids in our lives to be resilient. But there are a variety of ways that we try to help kids do hard things. The “Buck […]
Listening is a skill like any other. You can improve listening skills with practice. It often ends with a sigh of relief. The feeling of knowing—they got it. You explained it, offered time to process, and asked for clarification—you know the cliché question “Does everyone understand?” As you peered into the crowd, youngsters nodded with […]
7 science-backed ways to teach your child the all-important life skill of self-regulation.
“If children feel safe, they can take risks, ask questions, make mistakes, learn to trust, share their feelings, and grow.” Alfie Kohn
Completing this list should put you where you need to be when school starts!
Inspired by I Got This!: I Have Bounce Back Superpowers by Julia Cook and Michele Borba
We all want to make the world a better place. And raising kind children is part of it. But kindness for kids doesn’t always happen by accident.
Ah…summer is here! We know that for teachers and school counselors the job isn’t really 8:00-3:00 with summers off. Summer is the time when SO MUCH of your life happens. You are not too tired to see friends. There are no papers to grade. You WANT to do something. Summer is when you do the […]
“Healthy habits are learned in the same way as unhealthy ones – through practice.” Wayne Dyer
When we are anxious, our bodies give us clues…physical, emotional, and behavioral symptoms of anxiety.
Understanding why a child struggles to say no is the first step in empowering them to use their voices.
Suicide is preventable. Often, the biggest hurdle is silence. We’re surrounded by myths and misconceptions that keep us from having open conversations about suicide.
Test anxiety is a problem that nearly everyone experiences at one time or another. The fears of “I just can’t !” or “What if I don’t?” overtake confidence, and potential is instantly affected.
Everyone makes mistakes and fails. The important thing is not that you succeed or win. It is that you keep trying and working towards your goals.
People don’t get angry without a reason; there is often more to anger than meets the eye. We must go below the surface of what’s happening to unveil the true culprit behind anger.
All behavior comes from the brain.
Whether a child has a goal that you think is attainable or not, there are helpful ways we can encourage them to chase their dreams.
Even when our words are well-intentioned, the wrong words can often make a heartbreaking situation much worse.
The key to teaching kids how to manage stress is to give them tools to problem solve and navigate through life more effectively.
By understanding how their brains work, kids can develop a deeper understanding of themselves, the world around them, and their place in it.
Books are a great way to teach a child social and emotional skills they can use their entire life.
Empowering kids to create their own coping strategies allows them to take ownership of their bodies and minds while building emotional intelligence.
Plus Free Resources for School Counselors, Therapists, and Mental Health Professionals
While some parents are still talking about how books pose the biggest threat to children in schools, teachers are talking about what’s actually impacting their students and classrooms this year: smartphones.
Picture books can be powerful tools for helping kids with anxiety. They can help young kids understand and manage their feelings, develop coping skills, and feel less alone. In this blog post, we’ll discuss why picture books are so effective for helping kids with anxiety and share some of our favorite books about worry and […]
“What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candor, more unashamed conversation.” Glenn Close
The Power of a 45-Second Investment in Relationship Building: A short, positive interaction with a student at the start of the school year can pay off all year long.
Summer can give teachers time to rest and engage in collaborative learning that reconnects them with what they love about education.
It’s no secret that outward behaviors in our students rarely tell the whole story. Instead, those verbal and physical actions often serve as clues pointing to deeper needs, emotions, and desires. Once the underlying issues are addressed, the path away from negative words and actions becomes much smoother and clearer. As he addresses fifteen key […]
A multipronged approach to social media management, including time limits, parental monitoring and supervision, and ongoing discussions about social media can help parents protect teens’ brain development.
Many systems in the child’s body deal with emotions and the sometimes complex psychological response that they initiate. Two brain systems, however, share the important task of regulating your child’s emotions. Both have distinct jobs that have differing focuses on internal and external demands, but they interconnect to reach the goal of managing and addressing […]
Students need support more than ever. They need you. You are the strategy. You have the power to help students manage behavior and ultimately heal through co-regulation.
Our students spend a lot of time on their devices. By age 11, 53% of children in the U.S. have a smartphone, and by age 16, 89% have one.1 Not only do most youth own a device, but they are on it a lot too! Since the pandemic, young people’s online time has skyrocketed, and […]
Today’s libraries are more than just books. From teaching critical literacy skills to promoting entrepreneurship and small business development to preserving and facilitating our community stories, an easier question might be what don’t libraries do! Check out some examples of what libraries of all types are doing for their communities.
Every spring, we give our homes a deep cleaning to get it ready for the coming year. Do you do the same to your mind? Decluttering your brain is just as important as organizing your home. Here are 10 tips for mental health spring cleaning.
12 Tips for Helping Students with Test Taking
Social-emotional learning (SEL) helps young people acquire the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to identify and manage emotions.
Teacher burnout is more than just a frustrating day with distracted students, helicopter parents, or glitchy technology. It’s caused by chronic stress due to unrelenting workplace demands. The National Education Association defines burnout as “a condition in which an educator has exhausted the personal and professional resources necessary to do the job.” It’s not just about the ability to educate effectively, […]
When researchers from the University of Scranton tracked 200 people who had made New Year’s resolutions, they found that close to 80 percent kept their pledges for one week—but just 19 percent managed to stick to them for a period of two years.
The Holidays are meant to prompt joy, but reality is they may evoke stress as well.
How to not run from anxiety but embrace it.
Helping Kids See the Good Side of Getting Things Wrong
Perhaps you are familiar with “coping strategies” or “coping skills,” but what exactly are they?
When kids and teens face new things, they often feel a mix of emotions.
According to the research on failure, students may need more than just grit to succeed.
From a brain perspective, it makes sense. Stress has been high these past couple of years.
It goes unnoticed by everyone except the student who was forever impacted. But on occasion, long after the teacher has retired, the grown-up student takes the opportunity to recount his story. This one just happened to be on a national radio show.
It’s the end of March, which means it’s springtime and what better time to spring into action with acts of kindness. Savvy Aunties can help our nieces and nephews give back with these simple and fun activities.
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