When Children Taught Me How to See: Why Pictures Teach What Words Cannot
Sometimes pictures teach what words cannot. In this story, kids (including my daughter, Maya) showed me how movement, imagination, and even a tiny ant named Anty could make learning mindfulness joyful. The lesson they taught me:
When Kids Told Me the Comics Sounded Too “Teachy”: Co-Creating Real Voices in the Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Workbook for Kids
How do you teach self-compassion without it feeling like a lesson? In this behind-the-scenes story, I share how kids helped me turn research-based ideas into authentic, laugh-out-loud
The Day Kids Made Me Write a Quiz: Origins of the Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Workbook for Kids
What helps kids actually want to learn mindfulness and self-compassion? When I first began creating the Mindfulness & Self-Compassion Workbook for Kids, six playful kid co-creators showed me the answer: curiosity, humor, and play.
The Day My Daughter’s Self-Compassion Eclipsed My Own
It was such a beautiful moment... Hello friends, I had a beautiful and humbling moment with my older daughter, Maya. We were standing in the kitchen talking about her cross country training. Ranked #3 in the state for her division, Maya shared how her response to her...
Helping Kids with Big Feelings: What I Wish I’d Known as a Parent
When Maya was little, the hardest part of my day wasn’t mornings or bedtime…it was the walk from her classroom to the car. Almost every afternoon, she’d melt down. Sometimes over something specific, sometimes over nothing I could put my finger on.
How to Help Kids with Big Emotions: Playful Self-Compassion Tools
I first learned about self-compassion while helping my daughter, Maya, navigate her big emotions. Initially, I was frantically trying to put an end to her meltdowns—because honestly, kids’ feelings can be exhausting, for them and for us as parents!
Five Habits to Help Kids Be Resilient
I’m excited to share an article I recently wrote for Greater Good Magazine: Five Habits to Help Kids Be Resilient.This piece features the updated Resilience Animal Quiz to help you discover which habit comes most naturally to you, along with a sneak peek of a new comic from Volume 2 of the Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Workbook for Kids.
Support for You and the Kids You Care About—even While I’m Away
While I’m away from teaching live this month, I still want to offer support. It’s something I’ve thought about often: what happens when your desire to learn doesn’t fit with a class schedule? How can I continue to share the tools of mindful self-compassion, even when our calendars don’t align?
More than One Feeling
As you read this, I am on my way to Costa Rica—chaperoning my younger daughter’s 8th grade Spanish class trip! I know it’s a gift to be a part of this amazing field trip….and it’s 10 days of eating all my meals in a big group and traveling around with 40 middle school students (we got on the bus to go to the airport at 1:00 AM).
Five Signs that Your Child May be Struggling with Shame
In a recent podcast interview, I was asked an important question: What are signs that a child needs self-compassion?