Equipping youth and those who serve them with essential emotional intelligence skills to successfully navigate their lives and support their communities.
Every week, a new idea.
Built to land three different ways.
Take what fits your family. Leave what doesn't.
There is no wrong way to have a great summer!
For Educators - Your Summer, Too!
The part that pours back. Real rest, real joy, the life you put on hold from September to June, refilled in a way that lasts past one weekend.
Parent Power - Summer of Connection
One thing worth talking about each week, plus new ways into the conversations that usually go sideways, plus things to actually do together.
For Young People - By Age
Hands-on activities fitting the weeks theme, across five age groups, so every kid gets something that fits exactly where they are and experiences the theme.
Most of summer happens while we're looking at something else. The good moments and the hard ones slide past at the same speed, half-noticed, and by August we couldn't tell you where they went.
This week is about slowing that down. Not adding anything to your life, just noticing what's already in it.
Paying attention is the whole skill. It's catching what your kid does well before you catch what they did wrong. It's noticing when a room goes quiet, when someone's carrying more than they've said, when you're more worn down than you've let on. It's seeing what's working and what isn't — and being honest about both.
Gratitude is one piece of that. You can't thank someone for a thing you never noticed, and you can't fix a thing you never let yourself see. So we start upstream, with attention itself. Everything else grows out of it.
Once a day, look up. Look around. Notice one thing.
Something you're grateful for, something that needs your care, or someone who's been overlooked.
Then do something with it: name it, thank them, or ask the question you've been skipping past.
The practice this week:
What research shows:
When people spend a few minutes noticing what they're grateful for, they end up measurably more optimistic, sleep better, even move more...
Gracias. Merci. Asante. Thank you.
Notice it. Feel it. Share it.
Nobody tells you the best moments of a school year
are the easiest ones to lose.
The end comes fast. The exhaustion flattens everything — the hard days and the good ones pressed into the same gray blur. Before that happens, catch a few of them while you still can.
Before you let go of this year, write down six things.
Three from the year that's ending:
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Something you did well, and let yourself own it.
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A moment that reminded you why you do this at all.
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A student who surprised you.
Three you finally have time for:
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Something you've put off since the fall.
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Someone you've been meaning to see.
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One thing that's just for you, give that one a date on the calendar.
The year deserves to be witnessed.
So do you.
Here's a simple structure to make this week work for your whole family:
SUNDAY — Share the focus.
Tell your kids what this week is about, and why *you* care about it. Not a lecture. A real conversation. Let them see you in it, not just assigning it.
WEDNESDAY — Notice and name it.
Catch the good stuff out loud. "I noticed you thanked your brother without anyone asking, that was kind." Naming it is how it sticks.
SATURDAY — Celebrate out loud.
Don't let the week close quietly. Call out the wins, make it fun, mark that it happened. Kids remember what gets celebrated.
And all week long: when someone does something kind — a door held, a meal made, a small thing nobody asked for — name it and thank them. The cashier. Your partner. Your kids themselves.
It's called modeling. And it's the most powerful thing we can do.
There's a reason it works:
Putting a feeling, or a kind act, into words quiets the brain's alarm center and brings the thinking part back online. Therapists call it "name it to tame it." The science.
Tap an age group to open the activity.
Every child in your life has something here that fits where they are.
