Mindful Moments Blog
Mindful Moments Blog
Emotional Education Helps Woman Finds Self-Love After Childhood Accident
by Guest Author
After being in a traumatic accident, I viewed the world differently than every other eleven-year-old. My brain didn’t adapt as well as my body, and I wondered, "What's wrong with me?" Then, I found the one thing that was lacking in my childhood: emotional education. Here's my journey.
Mindful Moments Blog
Reclaiming Authenticity Through Self-Love
by Guest Author
A mama shares a poem about shedding old narratives and expectations so that she can be her authentic self, and in doing so, her six-year-old son is empowered to do the same.
Mindful Moments Blog
The Balancing Act: Mastering Life's Challenges with Adult ADHD
by Ashley Martin
The symptoms and challenges of ADHD in adults can be formidable, but they need not define our journey. By acknowledging our unique strengths, finding balance, and learning to manage our symptoms, we pave the way for a fulfilling and successful life.
Mindful Moments Blog
Helping Your Highly Sensitive Child Gain Confidence
by Rebecca Eanes
When our children are highly sensitive, rejection and criticism hurt more deeply. They get embarrassed easily and have strong emotional reactions, which can make them the target for bullying. Here are 5 tools to boost your child's confidence.
Mindful Moments Blog
As A Parent, I Miss Feeling Seen - How To Cope With The Loneliness Of Parenthood
by Rebecca Eanes
Without a village, parenthood can feel pretty isolating and lonely. Not being seen and connected often feels like a threat to our emotional and psychological well-being. Emotions Researcher Brené Brown inspires an unusual way out of loneliness and into self-acceptance.
Mindful Moments Blog
This Numbed Out World Needs Sensitive People Like You
by Suzanne Tucker
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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Mindful Moments Blog
What Not To Say To A Parent Who Just Lost A Child
by Ashley Patek
October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. As a mother who has experienced this type of loss, I share my experience with fellow parents and offer gentle advise to supportive friends and family.
Mindful Moments Blog
3 Successful Alternatives To Yelling For A More Peaceful Home
by Ashley Patek
One of the hardest parts of parenting is not the learning. It is the unlearning. When yelling is your natural impulse, these three tips can help you channel what you are feeling in a healthy, productive way.
Mindful Moments Blog
School Culture Affects Black Student Achievement
by Selina Armstrong
As students prepare to return to school this fall, there are many things for parents and educators to consider. We are still in the midst of a pandemic and living in an environment where racial disparities are being brought to the forefront where they can no longer be swept under the rug to be ignored, tolerated, or forgotten.
Mindful Moments Blog
3 Ways Parenting Can Heal Your Childhood Wounds
by Guest Author
When our own childhood contained stress and trauma, the developmentally-appropriate behaviors of our children can be a big trigger. Here are 3 ways to heal your childhood wounds through parenting.
Mindful Moments Blog
Parenting In This Day And Age Is Hard As #*@%
by Guest Author
Parenting will trigger parts of you that you didn’t even know could be triggered. Things that have been pushed down inside of you (consciously or subconsciously) will surface and leave you in the ultimate WTF moment! Nonetheless, we are all in the beautiful struggle of parenting together and I remind myself that I am not alone.
Mindful Moments Blog
Growing Beautiful Orchids - Helping Sensitive Children Thrive
by Rebecca Eanes
If you’ve been graced with an orchid child, here are three tips for helping them grow into their magnificence.
Mindful Moments Blog
Finding Freedom From Guilt To Reclaim Your Authentic Self
by Guest Author
Motherhood can feel like the synonym of should. No matter what we do, there will always be someone to tell us we didn't do enough, or maybe that we did too much. Learn what your guilt is telling you, and how to move through it to find your authentic self!
Mindful Moments Blog
Motherhood Broke Me and Built Me Back Stronger
by Guest Author
The thing they don’t tell you when you’re expecting that little bundle of joy is that the bundle is going to break your heart eventually. It usually happens in a million tiny breaks over the years. But while a mother’s heart breaks many times, it is ultimately indestructible.
Mindful Moments Blog
Accepting Ourselves And Our Children While Embracing Growth And Change
by Rebecca Eanes
The desire to do better can exist in and of itself. It doesn’t have to be driven by a dislike or disgust of who you are now. Here are 3 steps toward self-acceptance.
Mindful Moments Blog
If It All Feels Heavy Today, Read This
by Rebecca Eanes
There are millions of beautiful moments in parenting and also, sometimes, it feels hard. If you’re finding yourself in a heavy season today, or if you are having trouble recognizing yourself, here are 5 pieces of encouragement.
Mindful Moments Blog
by Ashley Patek
Poem about Motherhood. "While Motherhood has completely undone her, she has rebuilt herself from the sticks and stones more whole than she could have ever imagined."
Mindful Moments Blog
Parenting DUI's Affect A Child's Self-Worth
by Ashley Patek
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
Sometimes It's Hard, And That Isn't A Failure
by Guest Author
We cannot shield our children from stress, heartache, and pain, especially as they grow older. And we can't protect them from mental illness. But we can provide them attachment and love them through it.
Mindful Moments Blog
A World Where 250 Preschool Students Are Suspended Every Day
by Suzanne Tucker
A world where 250 preschoolers are suspended per day in the US alone is a world that needs a course correction.
You read that right -- according to 2017 data from the National Survey of Children's Health, 250 kids in the US are suspended or expelled from preschool each day. What’s more, the rate of expulsion is much higher among Black boys.
Researchers found that half of the 17,000 preschool students who were suspended or expelled in 2021 were Black boys even though they represent about 20 percent of enrolled children.
The impact of expulsion and suspension on children, families, and society
Recent research on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) informs our increasing awareness of the impact of early trauma on a child's healthy development and the relationships between early trauma and compromised physical and mental health conditions later in life.
Expulsion and suspension practices in early childhood settings are stressful, negative experiences for young children and their families. Here are just a few of the negative impacts on our children and families.
Per findings from The Institute For Child Success, preschool expulsion and suspensions:
- Interrupt the child’s sense of security, social acceptance, and academic routines.
- Put added stress on the child’s parents who are often left to find immediate childcare or another early childhood setting, frequently without support or facilitation by the previous program of attendance.
- Are often delivered by early childhood programs that have not performed adequate developmental assessments of the child before removing them from the classroom.
- Are predictive of expulsion or suspension in later school grades.
Young children who are expelled or suspended are up to 10 times more likely to drop out of high school, experience academic failure and grade retention, hold negative school attitudes, and face incarceration than those who are not.
Variables including larger classes, a higher proportion of 3-year-olds in the class, and elevated teacher job stress were found to increase the likelihood of expulsion.
One study that assessed the quality of 65 discipline policies from state-licensed early childhood care programs found that most of the program's discipline policies fail to sufficiently address essential features known to reduce challenging behavior and promote pro-social behavior in young children. (Longstreth, Brady, & Kay, 2013)
This same study confirmed the importance of positive teacher-child interactions in reducing rates of preschool expulsion, validating the importance of providing program support in the areas of social and emotional development as well as focused interventions for children with special needs and/or mental health issues.
Students perform better when they feel supported by the adults in their lives.
If we are to protect our youngest learners, and families impacted by racism, poverty, and learning differences, we need to invest in early and inclusive social-emotional learning initiatives.
Our school systems are failing to protect already marginalized student populations that, statistically speaking, are disproportionally more likely to receive punitive disciplinary actions than their counterparts.
With the right instruction and support, every student can thrive and excel, in and out of the classroom. We do this when we:
Invest in building stronger school-family partnerships.
Incorporate strengths-based discipline practices into the classroom.
Involve families, early and often, in their students' learning.
Preschool expulsions and suspensions are a national issue. It's time for us as a society to implement positive, relationship-based practices in the home and classroom to meet the social and emotional needs that challenging behaviors often represent.
With early emotional education, tools, and support that bridge home and school, we can support children, families, and educators, lower stress levels in the classroom, and prevent preschool expulsions and suspensions.
If you are interested in how Generation Mindful is addressing the school-to-prison pipeline by making social-emotional learning inclusive and accessible, you can learn more here.
Supporting Equitable Early Emotional Learning
Time-In Activity Mat & Card Set
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trauma-informed
restorative discipline
inclusion
Break Shame Cycles
model to learn
Breaking Generational Cycles
mental health
classroom management
Neurodiversity
