053: Navigating Big Feelings on the Big Heart Journey with Taes Leavitt

When our children are experiencing big feelings, it can be very tempting as a parent to try to do everything in our power to make our children feel better. But what if the best thing we could do for them is actually help them experience their emotions with confidence, rather than running away from them?

That is what Taes Leavitt, my guest on today’s episode, has dedicated her life to: helping parents and children navigate their big feelings. Taes has been called the “new age Mr. Rogers” for her extensive work in children's entertainment, for which she has earned two Juno Awards (the Canadian version of the Grammys).

She has spent the last 15 years creating empowering television and stage content for kids and in more recent years she has shifted all of that research and experience to inspiring kids and parents through a project called the Big Heart Journey.

Her research has revealed that the biggest thing that holds people back is not knowing how to navigate big feelings such as bullying, failure, guilt, sadness, and heartbreak. And today, she shares valuable resources on how to identify and cope with those emotions, and how we can help our children navigate difficulties like medical journeys with confidence.

She also provides some great tools such as meditation videos for children you can start implementing with your kiddos today that have been shown to boost resilience and confidence, as well as reduce anxiety. And the best part, these tools are available for FREE! 😍

Key Takeaways with Taes Leavitt

• How Taes creates safe spaces for children and parents to address big feelings.
• Empowering kids to move confidently through their biggest feelings.
• Identifying the difficult feelings (guilt, shame, sadness) that may be holding you back and how to deal with them.
• How mindfulness practices can help boost resilience and reduce anxiety.
• Ideas for strengthening relationships between children and caregivers.
• Tools to help kids navigate difficult journeys.
• How unaddressed feelings can lead to disconnection.
• Strategies to help children regulate before medical treatments.
• Finding new roles in a community for children who feel like they don’t fit in, or are getting bullied.

Show Notes:

Get Full Access to the Show Notes by visiting: MatteasJoy.org/53.

If you enjoyed today’s episode of The Joy In The Journey, hit the subscribe button on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen, so future episodes are automatically downloaded directly to your device.

You can also help by providing an honest rating & review over on Apple Podcasts. Reviews go a long way in helping us build awareness so that we can impact even more people. THANK YOU!