Raise your hand if you want your child to be capable and confident with curiosity, creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration. Raise your hand if you want your child to be able to process experience and express emotion healthfully. Raise your hand if you want your children to not only learn, but learn how to learn.

Play has the power to do all of this and more! Our children’s right to play is often dismissed as “just play” or denied because “there’s no time.” It’s not “just” play. There is no time like the present, and there is no present like the time to play.

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We have POWER! Superpowered: Transform Anxiety into Courage, Confidence, and Resilience by Dr. Shefali Tsabary and Renee Jain is an amazing resource to help young adults, parents, and teachers reframe anxiety, reconnect with our power, and build resilience. Superpowered teaches that we are born with 5 superpowers: being present, original, whole, energized, and resilient. Different life experiences zap our superpowers, and we start what-offing, camouflaging, cocooning, feeling fried, and being frozen with fear. Superpowered is a treasure box of tools, strategies, and activities for building resilience and reconnecting with our superpowers and each other.

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This blog gives you 6 actionable strategies for protecting children, helping them process anxiety, and taking care of ourselves in the process from the NPR and Sesame Workshop podcast LifeKit.

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Last year taught us a lot, redefined play, and helped us grow in so many ways. Here are my greatest learnings, play, and growth. I am bringing the best of my learning, play, and growth into the new year to help you and your child connect, communicate, and learn with confidence in 2021 and beyond!

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Thanksgiving can be a fraught holiday. How do we reconcile different experiences of the same holiday? By practicing gratitude from our own perspective. At its heart, Thanksgiving is about giving thanks. Gratitude is a power perspective, and through it, we can honor our own truths and growth. Stay tuned for the Learn Play Grow gratitude practices video for ideas for supporting children’s mindfulness and appreciation!.

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Over the last four years, I have learned that power is best when it is shared. I have stepped outside of fractured systems and created new ways to serve young children with diverse abilities and collaborate with their families, teachers, and therapists. The power to feel seen, heard, valued, and understood comes from connecting, communicating, and learning with confidence. I created Learn Play Grow to build that confidence and more through parent coaching, play-based learning, and developmental support at home, at school, and in the community.

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Technology is redefining connection, and connection is something we can all support. Parents, teachers, and therapists are having all the feels about relying on technology and children engaging with it. If we can't refrain, then let's reframe our technology use to align with our values, empower us, and build connection.

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Guest blogger Steve Friedman, author of In Search of Courage, writes about honoring introverted children and building on their strengths. “Our job as parents is to love, support, teach, and prepare. It is not to change those we love into our vision of a better self, regardless of societal norms or our own experiences or perceptions.” Steve shares about the importance of understanding introversion, understanding ourselves, and understanding our children, and he shares strategies for encouraging and empowering young introverts.

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The meaning of “school” and the debate about returning to it in person are challenging our community to reimagine education. Learn Play Grow is reimagining education to empower families, teachers, and therapists to help young children with diverse abilities achieve success outside the box. Hal Bowman, creator of Teach Like a Rock Star and Be The One, is reimagining “school” and how we can show up to help our children and students grow up. Here’s what I learned during Hal’s electrifying Change a Kid’s Life virtual professional development last week:

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