This is Why Your Child Needs Different Friend Groups
Our children’s self worth should have many pillars supporting it so that they are less vulnerable to challenges in one specific area and are more able to stay true to themselves. This is especially true when it comes to their friends. Having a few friend groups...
3 Simple Questions to Help Assess your Child’s Authenticity
Is authenticity a skill your child would benefit from improving? Each child’s umbrella looks different depending on the experiences that they have had thus far in their lives. Download this infographic to get a better understanding of where your children are in their...
Authenticity is a Choice
“Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It's about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen.” ― Brené Brown This quote from Brené Brown really captures one of the most...
Keep Authenticity Grounded with Cognitive Flexibility
All the pieces of your umbrella are important and work best together! As you focus on authenticity skills this month, be sure to remember the other skills in your umbrella to get the most out of this great skill. Sometimes authenticity in the absence of cognitive...
Your Child as ‘Work in Progress’
Over the holidays, I had the less-than-brilliant idea of letting the kids open a few gifts in advance of Christmas. We selected a small gift for my seven-year-old son to open on the 23rd, a little transformer. He opened the gift and played for a minute or two before...
Conversations with Kids – Ask For Their Take
If your house is anything like mine, you probably get a pretty good dose of the daily trials and tribulations of being a child through your child's eyes. As your child observes the world around them, help them to establish the values that they want to live by through...
Kicking Off 2018 with Authenticity!
Happy New Year from the Umbrella Project! We want to start the new year by expressing how truly grateful we are for all of you: the parents, caregivers, educators and friends who work with us to build the umbrella of wellbeing skills that children need to embrace a...
Build Cognitive Flexibility with Physical Activity!
Today's tip to help with your holiday shopping and cognitive flexibility is - keep active! Physical activity helps to get blood flow to the brain. Dr. Jen loves the benefits a mini-rebounder has brought to her family's active lifestyle. Watch it below, or check out...
Put a Good Joke Book on Your Holiday List
Today's fun tip for building cognitive flexibility over the holidays is: buy a good joke book! A few good ones to get you started: "Why did the bacon laugh? Because the egg cracked a yolk!" "It was a terrible summer for Humpty Dumpty, but he had a great fall!" "Why...
Holiday Gifts to Build Cognitive Flexibility
Our tip today, in preparation for your holiday gift purchases, is to buy some games that build flexibility into kid's brains! Watch the video below to find out why Dr. Jen loves the game, Apples to Apples. You can also watch the video directly on our Facebook page!