If your home is like ours then homework (or really any activity deemed educational) is either a battle to get completed, placed on the back burner or ignored. When we created J.O.Y. Journal we wanted to help kids explore and build upon important values such as self-love, resilience, confidence in owning who they are.  These are some tough values to teach but, like anything else in life, we wanted the child to learn through experience and thoughtful reflection.   Our main goal was to allow the child to discover who they are and what is great about them by interacting with guided questions while enjoying the fun and creative aspect of a journal. We didn’t want the journal to feel like homework.

The great news for you as a parent is that J.O.Y. Journal aligns with national educational standards so using the journal means your child is learning necessary skills while having fun. The chart below outlines how the J.O.Y. Journal aligns with Common Core and State...

Through the eyes of a child, the world is full of possibilities. You can be a pirate, sailing to undiscovered worlds. You can be a doctor, caring for your stuffed bunny with only one good eye. You can be a master builder creating spaceships, forts, and whole cities all with the click of a block.

We need creativity and imaginative thinking present in our children’s lives because it builds creative and divergent thinking skills, develops physical dexterity, and teaches comprise and negotiation tactics.  CNN.com published an article discussing with educational psychologist Kyung Hee Kim creativity scores in 300,000 American K-12 students saying, “Creativity scores have significantly decreased since 1990. […] Creativity scores for kindergarten through third-graders decreased the most and those from the fourth through sixth grade decreased by the next largest amount”.

In addition to free-play and exploring the outdoors, you and your child can expand your...

When you were growing up you probably had someone around who taught you the colors of the rainbow, how to tie your shoes so they won’t slip off or sang the ABC song to help you remember the alphabet. Now that you either have your own kids or, like me, borrow your friend’s kids to enjoy and lovingly give them back, you try to teach them the basics, as well as values like sharing and being polite.  

We teach children by explaining, showing and doing. We give concrete items a label. This is a CRAYON. That is a DOG. This CHAIR is BLUE. 

We attach labels to everything; we even begin to attach labels to humans. You are FUNNY. She is MEAN. He is such a LOSER. Those type of statements start to show up early in life and we just keep sticking these labels to each other (and sometimes even ourselves). It becomes a problem when we believe that a label is...

Think journaling in your J.O.Y. Journal is getting boring? Try these four creative ways to complete the activities in your journal or fill in the blank pages in the back of the book. Don't have a J.O.Y. Journal but want one? Not familiar with this guided activity journal? To know more about J.O.Y. Journal click here. 

1.       Art Journaling – Create a masterpiece to answer the question.  Go all out! Use any type of art medium you want: paint, clay, chalk, sand, or anything else you can think of. Let your imagination run wild.

2.       Doodle Journaling – Create funky doodles throughout the pages of the journal to brainstorm and answer the daily activities. Use emoji’s, animals or silly shapes to express yourself.

3.       Good Old Fashion Writing – This is the most common way people journal, through the power of the pen.  Placing words on the paper...

You may have just started the J.O.Y. Journal or you have been busy checking off activities, but now you have ran into an issue.  Suddenly you find a daily challenge that is not so easy to complete.  No matter what stage of the journal you are in, here are some tips to help you get through a challenging activity.

• Put it aside – You might be thinking this is the last piece of advice you want to hear. Sometimes when we focus on something so intently we get tunnel vision and can’t see new ideas. Putting the challenging activity aside for a couple of hours or a few days can help us refresh and refocus to find a new way at viewing a hard situation.
• Breakdown into Smaller Pieces – Is this one with multiple questions? Answer them one at a time instead of all at once. Does the activity require you to work with others? Contact those you wish to work with and make advance appointments so you have time to prepare and not meet several people at once. Breaking a...

Being yourself can sometimes be a challenge.  Here at Empowered Minds, we want you to be the best version of you that you can be.  Here are a couple tips to staying true to the unique person you are.

Make Your Own Choices

This might seem like very obvious advice but sometimes we all need a reminder.  Only you can decide what you do with your thoughts, actions, words and physical self. No one else can make you do anything you don’t want to do. Picking your choices also allows only you to experience the consequences.

Believe in Your Own Beliefs

Don’t let others persuade you with peer pressure, interesting points of view or rewards.  If you strongly believe in something, stand your ground.  Believe in your own thoughts, opinions and in yourself.  With a unique set of beliefs comes a more unique you.

Try New Things

We all have things are we good at and things we would rather never do again. But in order to discover what those things are, we need...