Mindful Moments Blog

Use Time-Ins and a calming space to help kids playfully learn how to name and regulate their emotions. What's The Time-In ToolKit? Children can be taught social and emotional skills in much the same way we teach them to read and write. The Time-In ToolKit® is a guided resource that nurtures social and emotional skills by engaging adults and children in mindful, affirming conversation about the many feelings we all experience. While time-outs are traditionally punitive experiences that isolate the child for a set amount of time as determined by the adult, Time-Ins are a way to help children learn to calm their bodies and process emotions in a safe space (aka Calming Corner™) so that they can problem-solve, learn and grow.  Time-Ins empower children to check in with their bodies when they are feeling strong emotions so that they can respond to situations rather than react. When children feel safe, and connected, they have a much easier time learning new skills. Who is The Time-In ToolKit for? Our world-famous Time-In ToolKit can be used by parents, caregivers, therapists, teachers, daycare providers, and grandparents; anyone committed to teaching and guiding children by example using connection, redirection, and loving discipline.  What's Included in The Time-In ToolKit? The Time-In ToolKit includes six posters, (3) 8"x10",  (1) 12" x 16" and (2) 20" x 30," (1) deck of PeaceMakers Affirmation Cards, (1) Time-In Activity Mat, and (2) sets of My Feelings Faces & Calming Strategy cards. If you choose to frame your posters, we recommend IKEA frames for quality and price. Want to save 20% on your ToolKit purchase? Check out our new Calming Corner Bundle!  Set Up Your Calming Corner It's time to assemble your Calming Corner space! Walk around with your child/children to see where they feel most comfortable and allow them to help choose the space. You can even make this a fun game!  Pretend to be explorers looking for the perfect space for your Calming Corner. Ideally, this is an area (possibly a corner) of your home, classroom, or office where you can devote 3-5 ft. of wall space to hang or store your posters and Time-In activities.  Emotional Intelligence In Action The ToolKit will equip you with practical tools to teach emotional intelligence and foster listening, cooperation, connection, and self-control. We say "Name it to tame it...Feel it to heal it!" Check out the videos below to see how other families are transforming challenging behaviors and making learning about emotions FUN for tots to tweens!  Name It Start Early Emotional intelligence begins in infancy when babies bond with caregivers and learn that people will respond to them when they cry or smile. As your baby grows, he or she will become more aware of emotions, gaining the ability to name them, respond to them, and eventually regulate them. The first step in developing emotional intelligence at any age is the practice of recognizing our emotions. It’s not until a child can identify emotions and respond to the feelings of others that she can also begin to control her own feelings. This may seem like a tall order for a 2-year-old, but studies show that even babies as young as 18 months can recognize and respond to emotions.  Name Feelings “Grumpy is her new word. Just wanted to share that the Time-In ToolKit works for 2 yr olds!” - Regina, Mom of 2 yo using Time-in ToolKit When our kids are small and trying to manage emotions - they can't express what they are feeling. They throw tantrums, they throw things, they have meltdowns, they scream, and they whine. This is their way of communicating with us. They need help to organize, process, and express their feelings in healthy ways. We can teach them these skills instead of punishing them, putting them in time-out, etc. Understand Feelings Our thoughts and actions are shaped by our many feelings and experiences. Making time to explore and understand our feelings through our many senses including movement, listening, and meaningful dialogue connects us. We are creating a world that gives all human beings (especially young children) permission to feel. How much less violence and mental health challenges would we see if every child was raised to feel seen, heard, and a sense of belonging? That's the world we are creating using Time-In's.  Keep reading to learn how.  Feel It Create Connections Instead of hitting her mom, or hitting her dog, this sweet 4 yo girl (who has been struggling with impulse control issues and managing her feelings since her parents separated) was able to notice that she was feeling nervous AND to name and share her feelings with her mama using her SnuggleBuddies plush, Yellow Lion. Snugglebuddies Emotions Plush toys make great additions to your Calming Corner! She named all four moods, happy (yellow), sad (blue), calm (green), and mad (red) using the toy's mood emojis ... instead of lashing out. This is what self-awareness, self-control, and compassion look like in the making.  When we model self-love and forgiveness, children learn self-love and forgiveness.  Prevent Sibling Rivalry Sharing and naming emotions fosters healthy relationships, reducing family tension. Simply listening and validating each family member’s experience is the first step to teaching children the important life skill of conflict resolution. Time-Ins for Tots to Tweens When your child is feeling overwhelmed, what do they do? 10-year-old Meghan has some ideas on this. Children as old as 9, 10, and 11 are benefiting from the Time-In ToolKit®.  Emotional intelligence starts with naming our emotions, but it doesn’t end there. We can also learn to pause before we act on our thoughts and feelings. Heal It Make Amends As parents, we can nurture kindness in our children. “It’s kind of like weight training,” says Dr. Ritchie Davidson from the University of Wisconsin. “We found that people can build up their compassion ‘muscle’ and respond to others’ suffering with care and a desire to help.”  When children are given the choice to share, apologize, or offer kind gestures instead of being forced to, they are roughly twice as likely to be generous later. And when kids are praised and recognized for their kindness, they are more likely to help again. The Time-In ToolKit does both. Use What You Learn Being able to name feelings and the cause behind big emotions is the first step towards building resilience and healthy ways to cope with situations. The video below shows children putting the skills they've learned with their ToolKit into action. Create Healthy Habits “I am safe and secure.” That’s the Red Bear 🐻 PeaceMakers card this three years old pulled to talk about with her mom before bedtime. Watch as she tells her mom what it feels like when she feels safe... versus when she feels scared. This sweet girl has been using the Time-In Toolkit® (Family Bundle) for just 2 months to help with her bedtime routine! Her mama tells us she LOVES it and has gone from, at one point, having 33 tantrums in a day (that's a lot...) to just one in a week.  The Ultimate Guide To Building A Calming Corner & Using Time-ins At Home & School 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.

The Trauma-Informed Schools Act of 2019 helps to define trauma-informed practices within schools with goals to decrease school-to-prison pipeline and create a safe learning environment.

I am a teacher. In order to associate with the trauma of my students, I become aware of my own trauma.

Behavior charts track behavior, but do they work in actually reforming it? Parents and educators can use this instead to nurture children's social-emotional skills and guide behaviors. Read more.

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.

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 0 Reviews $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

There are several ways that children appear to be misbehaving when, really, these behaviors are developmental passages that help them learn how to be human. Understand why misbehavior happens, and 4 tools to guide your child without yelling.    

Many individuals mistakenly equate punishment and discipline, assuming they are interchangeable terms. However, a closer examination reveals that they hold distinct meanings and approaches.

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 0 Reviews $18.00 The Time-In Activity Mat & Card Set playfully walks children through the process of emotional regulation with tangible tools to support learning fro... View Product trauma-informed restorative discipline inclusion Break Shame Cycles model to learn Breaking Generational Cycles mental health classroom management Neurodiversity