Articles & Resources
Children’s Activity: Searching for Glimmers
Glimmers are tiny, fleeting moments of joy and calm that happen within our days. When we experience a glimmer, we are experiencing a tiny micro-moment of happiness. A glimmer activates our parasympathetic nervous system, the part of our nervous system responsible for calmness and safety. Our brains are always trying to keep us safe, so
The Damage of the Silent Treatment
The silent treatment is a punishment that many have experienced in their lifetimes, but it has only been in recent years that we have begun to understand the impact of it on children’s brain development (and latter adult’s emotional experiences). The silent treatment refers to the refusal to speak to someone which moves from a
Children’s Activity: Starfish Breathing
Teaching children breathing activities has multiple benefits: Teaching children how to slowly engage breathing techniques and practice them regularly supports them to relax and respond more constructively when they are feeling overwhelmed. Starfish Breathing Download here Next Steps Want to learn more? Would you like to deliver emotional literacy interventions in your work? Our Level 3
Why do children upregulate?
Upregulation is a term used to describe when a child uses behaviours to bring parents or carers closer to them (also called proximity seeking or attachment seeking behaviours). They aim to raise an alert to parents that the child needs help, is feeling uncertain or stressed. Proximity seeking behaviours begin in infancy, when babies will
Children’s Activity: Sunflower Affirmations
When we are talking to ourselves, we are always giving ourselves instructions. Our brains are always listening, and this contributes to our internal belief systems. What we say to ourselves is important. So, using affirmations can be a great way to remind ourselves of our positive traits. Sunflower Affirmations Download it here Next steps Want
Why we cannot process hard things in the moment
When we experience anything which is very stressful or traumatic, we can find ourselves entering a state of shock or high stress, but be surprised when weeks or months (sometimes years) later we find ourselves, or our children re-living it the event as if it was yesterday, when we believed it was in the past
Children’s Activity: Self-esteem Exploration
Self-esteem refers to the value that we place on ourselves. This includes our self-worth and levels of self-respect and influences our thoughts, feelings and behaviours, as well as our emotional well-being. When our self-esteem is high we can find that we are more receptive to our connections with others, feel more satisfied in life and
Why we need to feel our feelings
This week, I have lost count of the number of conversations I have had about feelings, and the importance of feeling them and experiencing them. Your feelings are a communication system, telling you that you have needs that require some attention. If you are stressed you are overloaded, taking on too much, or trying to
Children’s Activity: Mandala Colouring
Colouring has multiple benefits, including; enhancing creativity, promoting well-being, stress relief, increasing a sense of mindfulness as well as providing a sense of achievement on completion. Colouring allows us to unwind and let our minds focus on just the task in front of us. So, we’re sharing a free nature colouring sheet for you to
Overthinking versus Catastrophising
Overthinking refers to thinking too much about something, or putting too much time into thinking about or analysing something in a way that is more harmful than helpful. Whilst catastrophising relates to the repetitive, negative thoughts that focus on the worst possible outcomes in a situation or seeing a situation as being much worse than
Children’s Activity: My Super Power
When a young person has self-esteem difficulties, it can be easy to become focused on ‘outcomes’. Grades, targets, effort scores, goals scored, test results etc, as a means to give them feedback. However, our self-esteem is our ability to recognise our worth, not out test results, so when we shift our feedback to characteristics we
Has tech made our friendships too intense?
Friendships are an interesting aspect of life for us to navigate. However, since technology, our friendships have adapted, but have they made us more anxious and intense in our friendships, and limited us from forming healthy connections? When we develop friendships, there are key stages that we normally process through: Research has shown that it
Children’s Activity: Monster Doodling
Doodling Being able to take some time out, to doodle and colour is a great starter for reducing the pressure of conversations, especially if they are emotive. Sometimes, sitting looking at someone across from the table, is too much pressure. Doodling has been found to increase blood flow to the brain and support regulation of
5 ways to support children with avoidant attachments
Avoidant Attachment Styles An avoidant attachments style, refers to a child who has learnt that they are not supported emotionally and therefore has developed hyper-independence as a safety response. They do not lean on, or trust others to help them as they have learnt that people cannot be relied upon. Therefore, they learn to down-regulate
Children’s Activity: Feelings Magnified
Our feelings can be tricky things to navigate. When we can label what the feeling is, is a really positive step, but understanding what the need is underneath them is vital. So, this week, we’re sharing an activity to start exploring what we need when we experience big feelings. For instance, when we feel angry,
5 ways to support children with anxious attachments
Anxious Attachment Styles An anxious attachment style refers to a child who has developed a belief that they cannot trust themselves, and are reliant on key people in their lives to help them. The child (or later adult) has a strong belief that they will be rejected or abandoned, and has a high level of
Children’s Activity: Affirmation Colouring
Our brains listen to EVERYTHING that we say, as though taking instructions from us. If we tell ourselves that we are stupid, silly or useless, our brain believes it and our confidence and self-esteem begins to drop. If we tell ourselves that we are kind, clever and capable, our brains take that as an instruction
What is autistic burnout?
When working with, and supporting children with Autism, it is important to be aware of the risk of autism burnout. Whilst the terminology occasionally flies around, it is lesser spoken of, and often only noticed when children are caught in the depths of burnout, and require a great deal of support. When a child’s needs
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