Mindful Moments Blog

An open letter to you, my toddler: "I get It."

I get it. I get all of it. The screams, the tears, the tantrums. Your bottom lip drops and your eyes brim with emotions. Sometimes you even turn away from me. That one rips my heart in two. Then the sun will peek through and the smiles will come...

Spanking Children Is Still Common and Still Harmful

A spanking. That moment where a child receives a swat on their backside for doing or saying something that an adult in their world did not approve of or felt was unsafe. It's likely that you've either received, given, or witnessed a spanking at least once in your lifetime.

Creating a Calming Corner for Small Spaces

Calming Corners of all sizes and styles are celebrated because what matters is that you opened the box.

Juggling Big Emotions

As a seven-year-old girl, I remember my grandpa coming over for the holidays and juggling whatever fruit he could find in our kitchen. He taught me to juggle using not lemons, but just three tissues. The fruit was too big for my little-girl hands, but like a set of training...

Behavior Charts: I’m Totally Over It

My friend Katie called me in tears last week. Her three-year-old son Max started having these new, long, weepy temper tantrums every day at preschool drop-off. Katie had the mamma guilt blues. Why was Max getting so upset? He loved school. How could she keep leaving him like this each...

Foster Families Are Making It Safe For Kids to Feel

One foster family shares how they are managing emotions on a daily basis in raising their five children.

Blue Dolphin and Green Hummingbird Are Perfectly Imperfect

A manufacturing inaccuracy gave rise to a beautiful lesson: we are all perfectly imperfect.

What Two Young Boys Taught Their Grandma About Anger

I gave SnuggleBuddies to my grandsons while they were visiting for Christmas to help them learn about feelings, but what happened next surprised me. You see, that Christmas morning, we had a situation, one that caused my dog to get very, very sick. My dog had gotten into some chocolate candy. ...

Calming Spaces for Muggles, Wizards and Eight-Year-Old Girls Alike

Wisdom. Emotional intelligence. Maturity. These words typically conjure up the image of someone older than you. Perhaps it’s someone you know and revere for their persistent nature and kind soul. That person for me is Elizabeth: an 8-year-old I’ve only just met. Older than me? Not by a long shot....