Imagining a Better World with Wish
“Why do bad things happen?” asks my son. That question is hard enough to answer, but he doesn’t stop there. He…
MorePosts tagged: Identity
Exploring Family Relationships with Trolls Band Together
Movies and commercials often highlight traditional families and focus on the joys of being together. But real families…
MoreNational Coming Out Day
My sister was 18 when she came out. It was a chaotic time in my family of origin, with lots of tears, threats of…
MoreMaking Belonging a Priority
Three weeks after my middle child started third grade, she was so anxious and upset that she couldn’t concentrate on…
MoreExploring Teamwork with Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie
Preparing for a family get-together, I gave each child a different job. My youngest collected cups and my third…
MoreMaking Kindness a Goal
My social media feeds have been flooded with ‘first day of school’ photos. Children stand holding signs proclaiming…
MoreExploring Identity with Loujain Dreams of Sunflowers
Sexism, racism, and classism are hard concepts for children to understand. Kids have a strong bias toward fairness and…
MoreSeeing Differences through Eyes that Speak to the Stars
Children are often curious about differences. They wonder why someone has red hair instead of brown like them, or…
MoreTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Spirituality
My kids used to grab paper and pens and create their own comics. Their scratchy designs would tell stories about their…
MoreBarbie Spirituality
Outside the movie theater, two young girls are pointing at all the people wearing pink. A group of women observe,…
MoreMovement Meditation: Wonder
Children learn pretty quickly that there are often right answers and wrong answers to the questions adults ask. Those…
MoreExploring the Goodness of Most People
Stranger danger lessons, active shooter drills - these experiences can teach children that others are to be feared.…
MoreAffirming Gender Diversity
When my children were young, we dressed them in a rainbow of hues. Some people found this frustrating because they…
MoreExploring Elemental with Kids
A few days ago, one of my children wanted breakfast for dinner, while another preferred Indian. The first argued that…
MoreNot-So-Random Acts of Kindness
Walking through the farmer’s market last weekend, I overheard a conversation between a coffee vendor and a customer.…
MoreExploring Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
The new Spider-Man movie, Across the Spider-Verse, is visually stunning, with different graphics for each universe. The…
MoreExploring 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,…
MoreExploring Spirituality with The Little Mermaid
Children have long loved Ariel, the star of Disney’s The Little Mermaid, because of her determination to live her…
MoreExploring Fears with Bright Star
Fears are a part of childhood. Whether it’s worries about monsters under the bed, big dogs, loud noises, or parents…
MoreCultivating Virtues
As my eldest child ran off the soccer field after another bruising loss, I prepared to console her and her teammates. I…
MoreGenerational Spirituality
Spirituality isn’t just a social, emotional, or cultural aspect of life. It’s also biological, passed from…
MoreCharacter Rocks
I keep a small stone on my desk with the word ‘breathe’ painted on it. It’s a reminder to slow down, find my…
MorePromoting Children’s Voices through ‘Grand Conversations’
One of my pet peeves with curricula for children’s programs is how teacher-directed most of the activities are. The…
MoreUsing Books as Spiritual Mirrors & Windows
As a preschooler, my daughter loved Don and Audrey Wood’s The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big…
MoreGuided Meditation on Friendship
For children, Valentine’s Day is more about friendship than romance. They’re generally eager to exchange valentine…
MoreBabies & Racial Bias
My nine month old daughter cowered in my arms. She clearly didn’t want to interact with the person who had just…
MoreExploring People Are Wild with Children
“Do they bite?” asked Marcus* when we spotted a family of mule deer during a camping trip. Our group was excited…
MoreHelping 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…
MoreCelebrating Kwanzaa with Children
Seven candles stand tall in a kinara, ready for lighting. Their number and colors (red, black, and green) suggest this…
MoreHoliday Lights Scavenger Hunt
I love holiday lights! Strings of colored bulbs wrapped around trees, icicle lights hanging from rooftops and fences, a…
MoreWakanda Spirituality
How do you create a Black Panther sequel without the Black Panther? Chadwick Boseman’s death made it difficult for my…
MoreTaylor Swift Spirituality
With her latest album sweeping the top 10 slots on Billboard’s Top 100 - a first for any artist - Taylor Swift is…
MoreEncouraging Children to Lead
“Mom, I saw some people asking for money by the off ramp. They didn’t have any coats and it’s pretty cold…
MoreGetting to Know Children Better
When marketers want to learn about people, they collect data about them. They then use that information to improve how…
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…
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…
MoreExploring Miss Quinces
Summer can often be a time of celebrations and reunions as family members and friends travel to see one another. In Kat…
MoreExploring Gods & Grief with Thor: Love and Thunder
My family rarely misses a Marvel movie, and the new Thor: Love and Thunder is no exception. In his typical oblivious…
MoreReading What Do You Do with a Chance?
Taking chances is risky. Some children can’t wait to explore the unknown. Others prefer familiar structures and…
MoreIdentity Discussions with Alice Austen Lived Here
Sam and TJ have learned a lot about ‘Dead Straight Cisgender White Men’ in history. So when they have to research a…
MorePlease Don’t Praise the Kids
“You’re so smart!” These three words come easily to mind when children do or say something that demonstrates…
MoreGay Pride Spirituality
It’s Gay Pride Month, and families of all sorts are celebrating diversity. Colorful rainbow flags attract…
MoreCelebrating Self-Discovery
As the regular school year draws to a close, many extracurricular programs also pause for the summer. Teachers and…
MoreDaily Intentions
Setting small spiritual goals each day is one way that children can take responsibility for their own moral and ethical…
MoreSetting Spiritual Goals
A few years ago, I taught a child who struggled with managing his emotions in group settings. He was unhappy about his…
MoreHelping Children Set Meaningful Goals
Purpose is an important aspect of a healthy spiritual life. Children have hopes and dreams. They want to make a…
MoreBeing Gender Inclusive
I started transgressing gender norms with my children when they were babies. I dressed them in colors and styles…
MoreExploring Ellen Outside the Lines
In their latest book, author A.J. Sass creates a neurodivergent main character (Ellen) who is negotiating changes in…
MoreCelebrating Black History Year-Round
With the calendar shift from February to March, we’ve gone from remembering Black history to lifting up women and…
MoreSpiritual ‘projects’ with Operation Sisterhood
Bo’s summer plans completely change when her mother moves into a Harlem brownstone with her fiance and another…
MoreUsing Story Circles to Build Empathy
Sorting through a box of old school papers, I found a story one of my children wrote in 2nd grade. Her teacher had…
MoreBooks Celebrating Black Identity
Children’s spiritual well-being depends, in part, on strong self-esteem. They need to see themselves as individuals…
MoreNew Year’s Examen
Examen is a reflective practice that originated in the 15th century. It’s purpose is to help children and adults…
MoreReflecting with Spiderman: No Way Home
When my oldest child was 4, he begged to have his face painted as Spiderman. But when he saw his new face in the…
MoreGender & Toys
“He has a doll?!” my mother exclaimed, disapproval ringing in her words. She couldn’t believe I would let my…
MoreExpressing Gratitude
An American celebration of Thanksgiving generally involves liberal helpings of turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and…
MoreEncouraging Active Empathy
My daughter came home talking about a new girl in her class. Since being the new kid can be challenging, I want my…
MoreGender and Sexual Diversity Inclusion
My daughter returned from her third grade ‘Meet the Teacher’ with news she’d heard through friends: a boy in her…
MoreWhy Children Won’t Ask for Help
“Go ask your teacher for help,” I told my daughter again. For a whole grading period, she had been struggling with…
MoreWays to Check Understanding
A common way to check whether children have understood something is to give a test. But even in schools, teachers are…
MoreIdentity Portraits
Valuing who we are and respecting others’ identities are crucial to spiritual wellbeing. Every child wants to be seen…
MoreTrust and Promises
As I left the gym, I overheard a mother tell her young son, “We need to get home right now and get snacks together…
MoreTelling Personal Stories
Hearing others’ stories and telling one’s own is a powerful way for children to connect spiritually. Personal…
MoreSpiritual Connectedness
One of my favorite preschool parenting moments was watching my children chase fireflies around our backyard on a summer…
MoreDecision Matrix
Learning to make good decisions is an essential spiritual skill. Becoming a self-reflective person requires children to…
MoreInfant Stress & Spirituality
Throughout the pandemic, news reports and magazine articles have encouraged us to think deeply about developing mental…
MoreSpiritual Mirrors, Windows & Doors
“But mom,” my eldest complained, “why do I have to go to church school? They never talk about anything…
MoreSelf-Esteem vs. Narcissism
In Wonder Woman 1984, young Diana, Amazon princess of Themyscira, desperately wants to win a competition. She is in the…
MoreSpiritual Reminiscing
Parents talk with young children about the past a lot. We remind them of the last time they saw their cousins. We…
MoreDeveloping Trust
When it comes to deciding what information about spirituality to trust and what to doubt, children acquire useful…
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…
MoreHelping Families Navigate Multiple Spiritual Traditions
Many children are growing up in families that have ties to multiple spiritual traditions. In a household where one…
MoreHow Labels Undermine Spiritual Identity
“Where are all my helpers? It’s time to clean up our room for storytime.” Many adults use the title 'helper'…
MoreRelationships as Roots
Dr. Eugene Roehlkepartain has noticed that when adults say relationships with kids matter, they really mean parents…
MoreExploring Life & Death with Soul
Pixar movies are beloved by both children and adults for their creative stories, well-developed characters, and…
MoreSpiritual Story Books
My children love to read. From a young age, they knew that I would rarely deny their request to buy a book that caught…
MoreTalking about Amanda Gorman’s The Hill We Climb
Forming an identity is a complicated task. The arts provide space to create and play with different identities.…
MoreChildren’s Invisible Companions
Some children develop imaginary friends to keep them company. Others describe spiritual experiences that feature…
MoreHelping Children Identify as Spiritual People
When parents name a child, they do so with high hopes that the name will somehow influence who that child becomes. If…
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