After one of my UPower presentations a young lady came up to me and shared that she was being called fat. This is not the first time a young person – boys and girls alike - have shared that they are being disrespected. It happens...
When's the last time your child/student said, did or typed something they regretted and wished they could take back? It could be as simple as making a mistake, blurting out harsh words or talking about someone in a disrespectful way because they were angry or...
When’s the last time you said, ‘I expect...
Ever heard a child say 'I can't’? I remember the day my son went from a toddler that demanded 'I do' to one day announcing 'I can't' as he struggled to open a jar of jam. I heard him say it again when he was...
What are you feeling? A question guaranteed to make a room full of adults squirm. When you think about sharing your emotions right now, would you prefer to leave the conversation or conveniently find something else to do? Maybe it’s because you don’t know how you are...
In January it’s easy to get caught up in thoughts of how to achieve the goals we have set for 2019. After all, we have to work hard to get what we want, right? While hard work is important, play is equally important. Everyone benefits from...
Wanting to fit in and make friends is normal. However, it can come at the expense of losing who you are or who you want to be. People who choose not to like you because you set healthy boundaries and take a stand for yourself and...
Sometimes children’s behaviour is a mystery. They know what they are doing isn’t ok and they do it anyway. As parents/educators, we often judge the behaviour as ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Those judgments dictate our response - when they are ‘good’ the child receives praise when they...
When you don’t feel confident it can be easy to tell yourself ‘I’m not good at that’ or ‘I can’t do that’. You might even compare yourself to others and think ‘they are good at that, but I’m not’. While there will be things in life...
As a strong believer in the power of journaling, I often talk about the benefits to young people as a tool for building emotional and mental well-being, resilience, and confidence. But there is another little talked about benefit of journaling - creating meaningful conversations. Conversations are a...
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