Mindful Moments Blog
Mindful Moments Blog
My Child Is Clingy. Am I Doing It Wrong?
Your child is clingy, seems to be experiencing separation anxiety and is consistently acting out whenever you leave them, even if just to try to pee alone. Are you doing something wrong as a parent? Not even a little. Here's why.
Mindful Moments Blog
A Parent's Guide to Social Emotional Awareness
Have you ever had an argument with your child over picking up their toys? You may have asked them once or twice, or even ten times to just pick them up. You start to feel very frustrated and tiresome and you begin to notice that as you grow more angry, so does your child.
Mindful Moments Blog
This Numbed Out World Needs Sensitive People Like You
By: Suzanne Tucker
Have you ever worried that your feelings are too big or "too much" to be acknowledged... much less shared out loud with another human being?
Today I'm sharing a personal story and a practice I use for sharing my emotions despite this fear so many of us adopted in childhood that our feelings are not valid and thus, not worthy of being shared.
I call BS.
The truth is that our feelings are data. They are not "right" or "wrong" so much as they are information -- a glimpse into our inner world.
So many of us grew up having emotions like sadness, grief, confusion, jealousy, and rage dismissed or denied by often well-intended but misguided adults who were never taught how to listen to, empathize with, and/or regulate emotions themselves.
Like the majority of adults on the planet, the friend I wanted to share my emotions with was raised in a family system that believed emotions were:
weak
not valid in and of themselves
and thus, NOT safe to feel
In this video, I share my experience of having my adult friend dismiss and deny my emotions when I shared my feelings, and how I responded.
In the above 12-minute video, I walk you through:
A short centering exercise (1-3:00 min)
My experience of being dismissed (3-4 min)
How this tied to my childhood (5-6 min)
Feelings as sacred (6-6:45 min)
How I "permitted" myself to feel (6:45 min)
A mantra to help us hold space for our kids (8:45 min)
We can learn to acknowledge ourselves and validate our own emotions. And, in modeling these things, we can teach others how to affirm and validate emotions as well --- making it safe for the next generation and for ourselves to feel.
JOIN THE REPARENT YOURSELF MEMBERSHIP
We don't control the people in our lives or how they react to our sharing --- but we DO control our thoughts, words, and actions.
I hope my experience helps you feel more confident in expressing your feelings regardless of how they will be met. Because this numbed-out world needs more sensitive people.
If you believe every child deserves to learn about their emotions, please check out our Reparent Yourself Membership, a community for change-makers like you, where we do not view the past as our destiny, but rather, our curriculum!
Join us!
About the author
Suzanne Tucker is the founder of Generation Mindful, a physical therapist, a parent educator of 30 years, and a mom of 4 (including twins!). Suzanne has been studying the art and the science of connection-based parenting for decades. Her life's work is to help families around the world find more joy and connection in their relationships.
Why Being a Sensitive Parent is a Good Thing
5 Ways To Nurture Emotional Intelligence For Kids
10 Simple Mindfulness Activities For Kids To Build Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence is More Than Naming Emotions
The Ultimate Guide To Building A Calming Corner And Using Time-Ins At Home
How do you say goodbye to time-outs and introduce time-ins? This is the ultimate guide on the do's and don'ts for building and using a Calming Corner.
"Ready-To-Hang" Time-In ToolKit
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The Time-In ToolKit® playfully teaches kids 2-9+ how to navigate big emotions through social emotional skill-building games. Created by child-develo...
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trauma-informed co-parenting Break Shame Cycles model to learn Triggers boundaries self love Communication emotional regulation emotions Breaking Generational Cycles positive self talk emotional intelligence mental health regulation self-compassion self-love
Mindful Moments Blog
Preschool Teacher Creates Calming Corner to Teach Students About Emotions
In a nook in the back near the teacher’s desk, a cozy, safe place exists. It is a place to explore feelings. A place to regulate. A place to take a break and just be. Welcome to Emily Brown’s preschool classroom. Emily is a teacher dedicated to helping her students learn about, notice and practice their emotions.
Mindful Moments Blog
The ABCs and 123s of Emotional Intelligence
Today I'm sharing two social-emotional skill-building activities I wish EVERY child and every adult in the world knew.
These two skills make up the ABCs and 123s of emotional intelligence. They are free, simple, easy, and dare I say, even fun to practice.
In the following 18-minute video, I walk you through these skill-building activities for building emotional intelligence in your home or early childhood classroom. This video is for parents and educators, and it can be shared with tweens and teens as well!
Tune in and learn:
What are the three skill sets that lead to higher emotional intelligence in children and adults?
What are two ways children can practice these skills on a daily basis?
How do these practices help us manage things like depression and anxiety with toddlers, teens, and right on into adulthood?
Thank you for learning more about Generation Mindful's mission to raise an emotionally healthy world.
If you believe every child deserves to learn about their emotions, join our 1M+ online community of parents and educators from around the world who are making it safe for kids to feel.
And check out these additional articles:
5 Ways To Nurture Emotional Intelligence For Kids
10 Simple Mindfulness Activities For Kids To Build Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence is More Than Naming Emotions
Teach Children How to Regulate Emotions Using A Calming Space
Classroom Time-In ToolKit® Bundle
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$149.00
$238.00
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$89.00
GENM's social-emotional learning (SEL) tools take a positive, relationship-based approach to nurturing emotional intelligence in the classroom. Our ...
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Positive Parenting
Mood Meter
model to learn
time-in-toolkit
emotional regulation
emotions
social emotional skills
Time-In ToolKit
emotional intelligence
Mindful Moments Blog
Heart's Treasure Hunt Storytime
Join Generation Mindful founder, Suzanne Tucker, for a fun, interactive reading of Heart's Treasure Hunt, our best-selling children's book where Heart goes on an adventure to discover "what is love and where does love live?..."
The answer might just surprise you!
Download this FREE PRINTABLE to color with the children in your home or classroom after storytime.
Have Your Own Storytime & Make Learning About Emotions FUN!
Heart SnuggleBuddies Emotions Plush & Book Bundle
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Buy today and receive a FREE Feelings Journal (see below)! The perfect addition to any Calming Corner, Heart is our newest SnuggleBuddies Emotions Plush...
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model to learn
Play to Learn
inner child
emotions
emotional intelligence
yoga kids
Children's books
Impulse Control
Raising Toddlers
social emotional skills
Mindful Moments Blog
Culturally Responsive Social-Emotional Learning
In her work as a school counselor with young children and tweens/teens, Dusha Cecil wishes her district had used Generation Mindful social and emotional learning (SEL) materials years ago, to develop the language and “permission to feel” for a diverse population of students starting in preschool when they were ages three
and four.
In this video, Ms. Cecil shares her experience of using GEN:M tools for early emotional education in the classroom setting:
Among other experiences, Ms. Cecil shares her experience of working with young students, and the many black male teens she supports in therapy that struggle to be sensitive or express their feelings.
Using Generation Mindful tools to "have these conversations and create safe spaces for children makes them feel safe at school, makes them want to learn from their teachers, makes them want to do better, and encourages them to start envisioning their future."
She has tremendous hope for GEN:M tools to lessen the school-to-prison pipeline by giving children of color, particularly boys, a voice and the permission and space they need to express their feelings starting in preschool.
Colby Heckendorn, the former principal of Patrick Henry Downtown Academy in the City of St. Louis, and the Executive Director & Co-Founder of Atlas Public Schools oversaw the implementation of GEN:M products and curriculum with his diverse staff of
early childhood and elementary educators and students at Patrick Henry Downtown Academy.
In his letter of support for Generation Mindful, Heckendorn shared how his diverse team of 11 K to 5th-grade educators felt the tools seamlessly embedded SEL into their everyday classroom activities.
"Generation Mindful provides amazing programs and tools that can help educators seamlessly embed SEL into their everyday practices. I have seen first hand how easy it was for our teachers to utilize these resources and have been astonished by our
results."
- Colby Heckendorn, Executive Director & Co-Founder Atlas Public Schools
Diversity, equity, inclusion, and amplifying voices of color are priorities for Generation Mindful.
There is a connection between punishment-based discipline, lost class time, and the many inequitable early childhood education suspensions happening on a daily basis that fuel the school-to-prison pipeline.
GEN:M tools educate rather than punish children who are still learning to regulate, strengthening social-emotional skills for a lifetime of health and well-being. They are inclusive, easy to use, and foster a supportive classroom climate for caring teachers to establish trusting relationships where students can feel emotionally safe, motivated, challenged, and have a sense of belonging.
The tools complement the Collaborative and Proactive Solutions Model developed by Dr. Ross Greene - driven by the belief that “kids
do well if they can.” When maladaptive behaviors occur, educators use time-ins to identify and build lagging skills rather than punitive methods such as time-outs, or being sent out of the classroom.
To learn more about using GEN:M tools to support social and emotional learning (SEL) in the classroom with the opportunity to bridge the learning into the home, visit here.
Classroom Time-In ToolKit® Bundle
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$149.00
$238.00
Save
$89.00
GENM's social-emotional learning (SEL) tools take a positive, relationship-based approach to nurturing emotional intelligence in the classroom. Our ...
View Product
trauma-informed
restorative discipline
inclusion
emotional intelligence
classroom management
Mindful Moments Blog
We wanted to share a list of some of our favorite Generation Mindful articles that chat about why time-outs are out, and shine light on the importance of time-ins in shaping a child's social-emotional intelligence.
Mindful Moments Blog
Social-Emotional Support For Military Families and Their Children
Generation Mindful® is excited to be in partnership with US Military Family Support Services in bringing our play-based social-emotional skill-building tools, toys, and parent education programs to military families with children ages 2 to 10.
Here is a brief overview of the program by Generation Mindful's founder, Suzanne Tucker:
In this next video, learn more about the science behind the Time-In ToolKit® Bundle you will receive, including:
The Time-In ToolKit®
SnuggleBuddies Emotions Plush
Hearts Treasure Hunt Children's Book
Positive Parenting Online Course
In the following video, Generation Mindful's founder explains the brain science behind the company's strength's-based approach and why these positive, play-based educational tools and parent education programs outperform punitive methods when it comes to teaching children vital social-emotional skills:
The following video on SnuggleBuddies Emotions Plush opens with Amanda, a military mom of two, sharing her family's experience using the plush to manage some big feelings and challenging behaviors her children were showing when her husband deployed:
And to show the appropriateness of these tools for tots to tweens, here is Meghan, age 10, sharing how she created a calming space her the Time-In ToolKit® Bundle.
Listen in as she explains how she uses the tools, including the PeaceMakers Mindfulness Card Deck and her calming corner posters to regulate her emotions:
We hope you will join us in this new program, bringing support to military families via play-based early emotional learning tools, parent education, and support.
_____________________
This sponsored program is being offered for FREE to a limited number of military families at Fort Bragg, North Carolina on a first-come, first-served basis.
Join us, and start creating more connection, cooperation, joy, and resilience in your home.
For more information, check out this flyer and/or email Julie Hohe at support@genmindful.com for details.
Mindful Moments Blog
Play Is More Than Just Fun at Philadelphia's Children's Museum
In collaboration with Generation Mindful, Philadelphia's Please Touch Children's Museum takes a bold step forward in creating a world where all children are able to exercise creativity, compassion, confidence, and social-emotional skills as it opens its new exhibit XOXO: The Exhibit About Love And Forgiveness.
Mindful Moments Blog
After an emotions check-in, Selina leads a mindful moment to tap into our resilience zone and brings us back into our center when we step outside of our resilience zone through breath work and words from Maya Angelou.
Mindful Moments Blog
5 Reasons Kids Misbehave And How To Respond
Here are five common reasons our kids misbehave and some ideas on how to respond for a more peaceful, connected home.
Mindful Moments Blog
Virtual Calming Corner Teaches Kids About Emotions Playfully
How do we teach social-emotional learning (SEL) to our children?
Mindful Moments Blog
Time-Outs Affect The Developing Brain
Separation-based techniques, like the popular time-out approach, use what children care most about against them.
Mindful Moments Blog
Don’t Take Your Child's Behavior Personally
Have you ever been on the receiving end of your child’s angry outburst? It’s hard not to take it personally. But as it turns out, it’s not a result of poor parenting or a sign that your child is on the wrong track. It’s all due to your child’s developing brain.
Mindful Moments Blog
Parenting DUI's Affect A Child's Self-Worth
In all of our loving intent, we sometimes commit parenting DUI's, which can send our children into a protective response. Here are 3 ways to break the cycle, not only for your child but for your inner child, too.
Mindful Moments Blog
10 Tough Emotions Parents Feel But Don't Talk About
Here are 10 feelings you may be feeling as a parent. There’s a good chance you aren’t talking about these feelings because they are the ones we fear others will judge us for, and they are the feelings we criticize ourselves for. It is when we notice and share those feelings that we find our way back to ourselves.
Mindful Moments Blog
Am I Raising A Pathological Liar?
Worried you are raising a pathological liar? You are not alone. Not only is some degree of lying normal for children, but it is a healthy sign of their developing brain. Read more.
Mindful Moments Blog
The Way You Perceive Your Child Affects How You Respond To Them
Is your child's challenging behavior bad behavior or is it a distress call? Your perspective will decide. Perspective is the lens through which you view the world. It determines how you perceive your children. By changing how we see our children, we change how we respond to them.
Mindful Moments Blog
Pretending To Be Calm Is Not Helping Our Children
Many of us believe that if we can remain calm no matter what and teach our children to do the same then we have successfully mastered self-regulation. But true regulation has nothing to do with achieving a certain state. It's in noticing and responding to whatever emotion you are feeling.
