Think about the five most successful people you know. On average, they might not be extraordinarily talented, but they excel in one crucial area: resilience. Resilience is the ability to bounce back from or withstand hardships, helping you persist through life's ups and downs.

As a parent, teaching resilience to your children can be challenging, especially while their cognitive skills are still developing. Here are some techniques to help your child develop this vital skill, along with ways to model resilience in your own life.

Stay Connected with Others

During tough times—physically, emotionally, or mentally—it’s natural to withdraw. While alone time can be beneficial, having a support system can make you stronger. Let go of the notion that strong people handle everything alone. Maintain relationships and be a support system for your child through daily conversations. Show them that seeking help is a sign of strength.

Cultivate Optimism

Having high hopes makes it...

October is a time to celebrate and explore spooky side of life. As a parent, one thing that might be a bit horrifying to think about is your elementary or middle school child having their very own cell phone and access to the world at their fingertips. A new cell phone for your tween means new areas your child is exploring without your knowledge. Many kids use various social media applications to communicate with friends using their cell phone.  Providing kids with their own cell phone, means more responsibility and an opportunity to build trust between you and your child. We have put together a few tips, suggestions, and conversation starters to use when discussing social media and phone use.

Tips and Suggestions:

• Remind your child that what they see on other’s profiles is their highlight reel, not necessarily their day-to-day life. Remember that they do not have insight into what is behind the photo. Everyone’s journey is different.
• Remind your child to be...

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...