“Are you excited about middle school?” a well-meaning employee asked my soon-to-be sixth grader last week. She was doing her best to make conversation as she scanned our pile of college-ruled notebooks at checkout. “I guess so,” my youngest replied, his tone suggesting he was trying to convince himself. Later in the car, he added,… Read More →
“Just checking in! How is everybody doing?” When Elmo asked this question on X in January 2024, no one expected it would generate 180 million views within just two days. Initial responses were light and playful. But people across the internet quickly began sharing more honest status updates, including feelings of distress, loneliness, challenge, and… Read More →
Summer arrives, and it’s easy to get caught up in planning—camps, childcare, screen time limits, and all the logistics that come with the shift. I approach this season with mixed feelings: part of me craves the slower pace and open-ended days; another part already anticipates the chaos of too much unstructured time. For many families,… Read More →
For parents navigating stressful events, it’s natural to focus on the question, “What should we say to our kids?” Words do matter. Talking to children can help them make sense of the experience, find reassurance, and share their emotions. But talking isn’t the only way to manage big feelings. Children don’t process everything through words… Read More →
“That part is about me!” my youngest remarked proudly as we read our family poem out loud. Without hearing his name, he knew that the phrase “planetary sparkle” was his part of our story. We had just finished a personalized family poetry session with Spark & Stitch partner poet Diver Van Avery. It had begun… Read More →
“But who is going to help her?” Jacob asked. Jacob was a seven-year-old we had just met on the playground. He, along with several other kids including one of my own, had been playing the tag game “Sandman” on the play structure. Suddenly one of the kids tried to take a shortcut off the side… Read More →
I can still remember mornings with toddlers like they were yesterday. The logistics of a morning routine seemed simple enough — breakfast in, warm clothes on, and out the door. Yet any parent can tell you that achieving these outcomes with a two-year-old is far from simple. “No!!! Noooooo!!!!” I remember my 2-year-old screaming as… Read More →
“I need you to get going!” I told my middle schooler. This reminder came at the end of instructions about what-to-do-next in the unstructured day ahead. My pre-teen, more engaged in a podcast than my game plan, didn’t budge. I considered increasing volume, providing more information, or adding in some exasperated sighs for emphasis. Before… Read More →
“How are you feeling about going back to school?” I asked my youngest over breakfast. “I’m excited!” he responded quickly. I was grateful for the enthusiasm but realized that there might be more to the story. Sure enough, the same child was on the verge of emotional collapse five minutes later. He was beside himself… Read More →
In the past two years every major organization dedicated to adolescent health and development has sounded the alarm on mental health. The latest CDC data describes the crisis in detail. In 2021, more than four in ten students felt persistently sad or hopeless and nearly one-third experienced poor mental health. In the wake of this… Read More →
