Courtesy of Generation Mindful
St. Louis-based toy company Generation Mindful recently released SnuggleBuddies, a line of stuffed animals meant to encourage children to notice and share their feelings. Using brain science as a foundation, SnuggleBuddies nurture children's emotional intelligence.
As a physical therapist and parenting class teacher, Suzanne Tucker focuses on helping parents connect with their children. Her classes have featured baby massage and bonding activities meant to strengthen bonds between parents and their kids.
"I had parents asking me, 'How do I do this every day? How do I connect playfully with my kids when I'm stressed out and busy? And how do I teach my husband to do it? And how do I teach their teacher at school to connect with my kids this way?"
So Tucker started creating tools, based on the science of attachment theory and positive discipline theory, to help parents continue the bonding at home.
Now she and her company, Generation Mindful, have introduced a Time-In ToolKit. Meant to replace time-outs and behavioral management charts, the kit includes a deck of cards, called PeaceMakers, that depict text and animals as a way to teach kids about their emotions.
Its "name it to tame it" approach shows children how to name the feelings they are experiencing, because once children can identify their emotions, they have more control over them.
The SnuggleBuddies are the seven animals depicted on the PeaceMakers cards. Each animal represents a trait or capacity: The red bear is power; the orange fox is joy; the yellow lion is balance; the green hummingbird is love; the blue dolphin is peace; the indigo owl is intuition; and the violet elephant is forgiveness. Inside each toy's back pocket is an emoji, shorthand for one of the four main emotion groups. Singing along to the furry friends' theme song, children ask themselves "When did I feel happy today, and when did I feel sad? When did I feel calm, and when did I feel mad?”
Courtesy of Generation Mindful
"Attachment theory tells us that some of the behavioral challenges we see in toddlers and young children come from a desire to feel connected. To be touched, to have direct eye contact with us, sourcing that formative attachment we all need as children," Tucker says. With her approach, parents soon see their children recognize, "I'm upset, and I want to lose it. I'm going to have a tantrum. I'm going to have a meltdown." When children can't name or understand what they're feeling, their reaction options are limited. But with the help of their SnuggleBuddies and more knowledgeable parents, they learn to be aware, to breathe, to figure out how they want to respond next.
For Generation Mindful, that's the goal.
