9 Tips for Helping Kids Deal with Events Like the Troutdale School Shooting
Within a day of last week’s shooting at Reynolds High School in Troutdale – just outside of Portland here and where some of Lynea’s colleagues work – several particular posts about it began cropping up on Facebook a lot. One was especially sad and sobering: Though...
Less Screen-Time = Healthier Kids & More Family Fun!
You hear a lot about the problems that come from kids spending too much time fixated on screens – obesity, poor and insufficient sleep, behavioral issues and all the rest. What you don’t hear so much is evidence of the benefits from guiding kids’ interactions with...
Helping Kids with Attention Issues: We Can Do Better – Tips & Resources
Judge by rising rates of ADHD diagnoses and medication prescriptions (quintupling over the past 12 years), it would seem that we’ve really got a national epidemic at hand. Or do we? A recent New York Times article reveals some disturbing news: The rise of A.D.H.D....
4 Tips for Implementing Yoga Calm in Your School
by Lynn Hernandez, school principal and Certified Yoga Calm Youth Instructor After attending Yoga Calm training last February I was so excited about the possibilities at my school for both students and staff. I knew that these mindful movement activities would help...
What Is Your Call of Duty?
What's going on with our boys? These days, I’m asked this question a lot by parents and teachers alike. This school year alone, I have done more staff trainings and have been asked to observe and assist teachers more than ever before with respect to boys’ behavior...
11 Ideas for Cultivating Gratitude in the K-8 Classroom
In our work with teachers and counselors around the United States, we are in a unique position to see what trends and common issues face schools. One particularly strong trend is an emphasis on social and emotional learning (SEL) to help students to succeed in a...
Things That Go Bang!
At our recent Boys & Coyotes Course in Minneapolis, I asked a group of therapists, teachers and other educational professionals, “What do you know about boys?” Some of their answers: They are active. They like to play superheroes. They make exploding noises. They...
The Emerging Field of Contemplative Science & How It Can Help Us Help Kids Thrive
It seems “mindfulness” has hit the big time. A simple news search of the term in Google typically brings up several thousand results. It seems everybody’s talking about it. One reason why is just our search for solutions to the increasing pressure and uncertainty we...
How Stories & Storytelling Make for Healthier, Happier, More Resilient Kids
Once upon a time… There’s good reason why these four simple words almost instantly capture our interest. As if by magic, they may transport us back to childhood and the fairy tales read to us by our parents or earliest school teachers. They also hit an even more...
Honoring our Children, Honoring Ourselves, Honoring our Elders
A guest post by Kimberly Carson, co-instructor for our new Yoga for Seniors Certification program. Growing a beautiful, productive garden is more complex than just supplying water, appropriate sunlight and good soil. Among other things, you must consider the effects...
Take a Stand for Children’s Health…Literally!
At first glance, it’s a hard statistic to believe – that by the time they reach high school, 63% of kids are no longer physically active. But consider some of the barriers that either didn’t exist or were much less common for children just one or two generations ago:...
The Children You Save
A few years ago, after hearing news of another mass shooting, I sat with the principal of the rural elementary school where I worked as a counselor, feeling sad and discouraged. Then he said something I’ve never forgotten: "The children you save never make the...