Dear Readers, Jack, the goat & Charlie, the horse know how challenging unexpected Big Changes can be, so they want to help you to feel brave & safe today! Here (below) are two simple exercises to help young kids invite feelings of bravery and safety into their bodies—which is something both Charlie the horse, and Jack, the goat need to do in the new book This Way, Charlie by me and Charles Santoso which arrives April 21st. You don’t need the book to do these exercises; if you

During school-visit interactive readings of May I Have a Word? I ask students to act out the character of the letter K, who is jealous and frustrated with the letter C for taking all the “good words.” I feed them their lines and encourage them to muster up as much melodrama as possible. “I don’t want to talk about it,” they quote and then let out a collective and wonderfully pitiful sigh. “In fact, I— don’t—want—to—talk—at—all!” I narrate the next line, “K fell silent.” The s

In kindergarten, I spelled words into ribbons. That is, I practiced each spelling word written on my stack of index cards until I had mastered it and my teacher put the card into a small box; when all the word-cards from my list were in the box, she smiled and invited me to open the container where she kept her magical collection of ribbons. I got to select the three colors she would wrap around my box, tie tightly into a double knotted bow, and turn into a bouquet of curly-Q

When it feels as though the sky is falling, and I know my two hands are not enough to catch, lift, hold the whole thing up, I am tempted to throw my hands up in the air—so sometimes I read this poem and ask myself, well, what little bird can I lift today? If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain; If I can ease one life the aching, Or cool one pain, Or help one fainting robin Unto his nest again, I shall not live in vain. -Emily Dickinson And one day, a

A tennis court filling up with snow. A playground catching flakes on its silver-slide tongue. Trees standing stubbornly without coats, gleefully spreading gloveless fingers into the wind. These are some of the snapshots I took in with my window-camera as I sat curled under a blanket on my gray coach, during the blizzard last weekend. I was grateful to be snowbound. I had writing to do, a class to prepare for, and piles of other assorted get-to-do's. But there was a snowflake

Recently, I had the opportunity to listen to and speak with Jane Paley, PsyD about her ideas for parents whose children may be struggling in school, so I thought I’d share some of the tips and thoughts she offered. I hope it may be useful to you or another parent you may know! (Please note that these take-aways come from my conversation with Jane, but are filtered and at times re-worded through Caron, here.) Use W's to Gather Information: “I have yet to meet a 'lazy' kid…the