COMMUNICATE TO CONNECT: We Build Better Humans, Issue #14
This issue features: 1. Blueprints to a happy family with encouraged kids || 2. Tools of the Trade: Empathy Interviews || 3. Letting it go ... together
This week, I’ve heard too many stories from people in my circle about kids—in their classrooms & families—talking about leaving the planet. As in suicideation. Some were teens & some were in elementary school.
I heard my own children talk like this during the pandemic shutdown. It was gut-wrenching. Hearing these stories now from my friends has been just as upsetting in many ways.
As a child, I also had these same thoughts: “I just wish I could go to sleep & not have to wake up.”
Kelly Holmes of Happy You, Happy Family has a great free printable right now with 125 Encouraging Phrases for Kids. (Example: After a bad day, say, “Ugh, it sounds like you had a tough day. Thank you for sharing that with me, so you don’t have to carry it alone.”)
This month, Nick Wolfe of the SEL in 5 newsletter has some powerfully helpful similar scripting for educators in the form of Empathy Interviews. Parents can take this suggested framework, too, to use it at home with their own kiddos.
We’ve had our own dialogue here recently through a poll on what guided exercise tools I can create to make your day go better. (Yes, someone is listening to you!) Thank you for sharing. Listen now to this guided exercise on letting go of other people’s feelings: For the Carer Who Feels Too Much.
Do you have a tool you’d like to share for subscribers of this newsletter or a resource/expert you think would be a great feature for our Tune In podcast? Contact me, Coach Kiki Kealah Parkinson, at ask@coachkiki.com.