Posts tagged: Anxiety

Exploring Bad Days with Everything Will Be OK

Some days are just yucky. Things happen that children can’t control and don’t like. They might be little things,…

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Talking about Lockdown Drills with One Thursday Afternoon

Lockdown (Active Shooter) Drills have become a staple of children’s lives. Schools and organizations build them into…

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Talking about the Nashville School Shooting

Another school shooting, this time in Nashville. Seven people dead (including the shooter) and many more traumatized…

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Shifting Bad Habits to Good Practices

When I was a child, I bit my nails. It was a reflexive action whenever I felt stressed or anxious. I don’t really…

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Boosting Resilience with a ‘Helping Hand’

My kindergartener woke in the middle of the night sobbing. We had just learned earlier that her friend’s mom had been…

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Helping Kids Have a ‘Happy’ New Year

“10…9…8…7...6…5…4…3…2…1…Happy New Year!” My family celebrated the start of 2023 with sparkling…

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Developing Patience

“How many more days, mom? How many more?” Every December, my kids would be hyper-charged with excitement for the…

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Exploring Emotions with The Coat

Hand-me-downs can be a dreaded necessity or longed-for acquisition. I remember being crestfallen when a neighbor passed…

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Reflecting on Lyle, Lyle Crocodile with Kids

Lyle, Lyle Crocodile offers several big songs and dance scenes that will engage and excite young moviegoers. But…

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Preparing Preschoolers for Spiritual Learning

Working with preschoolers can be a blast! Many are full of curiosity about everything and eager to explore. Even the…

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Talking with Kids about the Uvalde School Shooting

A school terrorized by an active shooter. A classroom of children injured and dead. Teachers killed trying to protect…

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Mindful Art

Self-awareness and emotional regulation are spiritual skills that every child needs. Research shows that art activities…

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Taming Anxiety

One of my children goes quiet when she’s anxious. Another talks incessantly and blows up when he gets overwhelmed.…

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Mindful Nature Walks

I do a lot of walking. I sometimes walk from my house to my office two blocks away. I pace while talking on the phone…

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The Spiritual Effects of Nature

My children loved going for walks when they were little. They would point out flowers, watch a caterpillar inch its way…

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Finding Our Calm

When my middle child was in third grade, she was very anxious about taking tests. Her stomach would hurt and she would…

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Guiding Questions for Pandemic Programming

Just when we thought it was safe to relax a little, the Omicron variant has swooped in and put pandemic debates in the…

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Creating a Sacred Healing Space

The last two years have been incredibly difficult. Children, as well as adults, have struggled to find spiritual…

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Do Threats of Punishment Serve a Spiritual Purpose?

To Elf or not to Elf? Every December, parents on my social media feeds wrestle with this Christmas conundrum. More than…

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Guided Meditation for Peacefulness

Stress and anxiety are common occurrences in contemporary family life. Parents and children have a lot to do each day,…

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Creating a Mindfulness Space

Mindfulness practices help children to become more self-aware. When they spend time being present with themselves, they…

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Strengthening Connections

“I forgot my mask” yelled my daughter as she ran home from the bus stop, then back out again, mask in hand. Going…

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Back to the ‘Kinda’ Familiar

As a new school year begins, many organizations are planning to welcome children back to in-person programs. But…

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Coloring as a Mindfulness Practice

As children return to in-person gatherings, they may feel anxious and stressed.  An art-based mindfulness practice can…

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Spiritual Counseling

For many children, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a time of trauma, grief, and loss. Even if children have come through…

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Teaching Hope

I’ll admit that I have generally thought of hope as an emotional state: an optimistic feeling of possibilities…

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Infant Stress & Spirituality

Throughout the pandemic, news reports and magazine articles have encouraged us to think deeply about developing mental…

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Building Spiritual Resilience

As new Covid-19 cases decline in the U.S., families are embracing opportunities to reconnect and restart communal…

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A Lament How-To

When life gets tough, a spiritual practice that deals with anxiety can make the difference between a whiny child and…

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