Cultivating Contemplative Skills
Media reports of a mental health crisis among young people have appeared regularly in the last two years. Psychologists…
MorePosts tagged: Awareness
Building Good Habits on Earth Day
Blue-green drawings of the earth decorate family refrigerators this month as children learn about Earth Day. Held…
MoreA NeuroSpicy Mealtime Spiritual Practice
Meals are culturally and historically a time for nourishment and connection with others. For some neurodivergent…
MoreCreating a Peaceful World with A Very Big Problem
Most cultures and religious traditions tell stories that try to make sense out of how the world began and why people…
MoreNavigating Change with Ten Beautiful Things
Change can be both exciting and scary, and unwanted changes can be particularly stressful. Figuring out how to cope…
MoreTeaching Young Children to Journal
As preschoolers, my children loved the ‘books’ their teachers created for them to use. They were simple…
MoreExploring Compassion with A Mystery in the Forest
As children, my next youngest sibling and I loved to ride our bikes together. Our six-year-old brother would beg to go…
MoreManaging Holiday Emotions
“But mom,” wailed my daughter, “I wanted to put the glitter stars on the tree.” She collapses onto the sofa and…
MoreTeaching Kids the Science of Gifting
My children delight in finding gifts to give extended family members. When their great aunt adored camel figurines,…
MoreBuilding Self-Understanding with Self-Talk
When she was three, my middle daughter loved to play dolls with her friends. They would reenact various everyday…
MoreChildren & Awe
At two and a half, my eldest child was obsessed with garbage trucks. She loved the sounds they made, the way they…
MoreTalking about the Election with Kids
My two older children were just 6 and 3 when their dad and I signed on as volunteers with a major election campaign.…
MoreExploring Neurodivergence with Good Different
When my daughter was four, she came home from school and told me that we could no longer show our teeth when we smiled.…
MoreActivating Social-Emotional Learning Skills
The beginning of a new school year is marked with excitement and anxiety. It’s a transition point, which requires…
MorePracticing Humility
Psychologists suggest that true humility is not about making oneself smaller to please others, but being able to share…
MoreLooking Beneath with Kids
Everyone - young or old - have bad days. Days when it’s hard to get out of bed. Days when we don’t feel like…
MoreExploring Self Image with What in the World is Wrong with Gisbert?
With the 2024 Summer Games about to kick off in Paris, children and adults are hyper-aware of how athletes look and…
MoreExploring Personal Connections with Despicable Me 4
My family went on vacation with friends a few years ago. It was fun but also complicated to figure out how to live…
MoreExploring Community Change with The Artivist
Recently, my children were discussing who might have made their clothes. We have talked about child labor in factories,…
MoreMeaningful End-of-Year Recognition
Awards ceremonies are often a major event at the end of a program year. Some children eagerly await them, secure in the…
MoreHerb Garden Spirituality
My son’s favorite plant in our garden is chocolate mint. He says it smells like a Girl Scout cookie. One of my…
MoreHelping Kids Understand Symbols
Symbols are all around us, but sometimes they can be hard to understand. We need to know something about their cultural…
MoreHow Social Media Works
When my friend’s children want to find a new book to read, they turn to TikTok. The app lets them search for videos…
MoreManaging Misbehavior with Conscious Discipline
I’m watching a group of children prepare to act out a spiritual story. One child insists on taking the lead role, and…
MoreReflecting on Our Work with Kids
The start of a new school year means many program leaders are scrambling to build relationships with new children and…
MoreMovement Meditation: Awareness
Being aware of one’s surroundings can be an important safety practice. We teach children to pay attention when…
MoreBooks for Earth Day
Americans have celebrated Earth Day since 1970, with other nations joining in beginning in 1990. The theme for 2023 is…
MoreBecoming a More Reflective Leader
When I first started organizing an afterschool program for third and fourth graders, my supervisor’s advice to…
MoreExploring Emotion with Crying is Like the Rain
Children’s feelings can shift and change rapidly. One minute a toddler is happily playing and the next they’re…
MoreAddressing Empathy Deficits
“Jamal is icky. He walks with a limp and talks funny.” “Suzanne is so stupid! She looks weird, too.” Such…
MoreNurturing a Flexible Mindset
“But mom, you don’t understand! Practice ran over and now the internet is down and I can’t get to the language…
MoreYom Kippur
Fall brings two major Jewish holidays: Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), which is…
MoreSit Spots
Now that school is back in session, children have much less time to spend outdoors. Pressure to prepare kids for…
MoreReexamining Humility as a Spiritual Virtue
Growing up, I was frequently told that good girls should be humble. I was expected to hide my intelligence and avoid…
MoreStarters That Support Well-Being
“Can’t I just be 10 minutes late?” pleaded my daughter. We were driving to her Brownie troop meeting and I could…
MoreHow Gratitude Builds Community
We hear a lot about supply chain ‘issues’ right now. Store shelves are emptier than in pre-pandemic days. Online…
More3 Kinds of Spiritual Engagement
A couple of weeks ago, I observed a group of children in a local day camp program. The leader asked them to identify…
MoreNew Year’s Examen
Examen is a reflective practice that originated in the 15th century. It’s purpose is to help children and adults…
MoreSpiritual Reflection with Encanto
Encanto, Disney’s newest animated feature, tells the story of an extraordinary family. Once upon a time, Abuela…
MoreTeaching Tough Topics
Ruth Wills doesn’t believe in shying away from tough topics with children. A few years ago, she developed a method…
MoreCreating a Mindfulness Space
Mindfulness practices help children to become more self-aware. When they spend time being present with themselves, they…
MoreYoga with Children
I keep returning to yoga practice in my adult life. It provides me with a space to be present in my body and helps me…
MoreSocial Emotional Learning at Home
My second child would become easily overwhelmed as a toddler. If we were shopping at the mall, she would start crying…
MoreLearning to Forgive
Sibling squabbles were a daily part of life when my children were preschoolers. They erupted when one child would steal…
MoreBuilding Spiritual Resilience
As new Covid-19 cases decline in the U.S., families are embracing opportunities to reconnect and restart communal…
MoreManaging Big Emotions with Mindfulness
When my children were little and dealing with sibling arguments, I taught them a quick mindfulness practice to help…
MoreUsing Landscape Images in Spiritual Reflection
My youngest child loves Van Gogh’s Starry Night. In fifth grade, he picked out a t-shirt that had Albert Einstein’s…
MoreSpiritual Reminiscing
Parents talk with young children about the past a lot. We remind them of the last time they saw their cousins. We…
MoreTalking with Kids about the Derek Chauvin Verdict
My family was doing our regular post-school, pre-dinner thing when the radio paused its scheduled programming to…
MoreYoung Children and Connectedness
The other day, my tween son and I were talking and laughing as we sorted through piles of nursery artwork I have stored…
MoreFamily Hospitality
“Look at what I made,” says my son, holding up to me his newest drawing. I respond, “Just one more second,…
MoreStimulating Spiritual Curiosity
When my children were younger, they regularly asked deep spiritual questions. Preschool drop-off conversations were…
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