Raising Emotionally Intelligent Kids (and their Grown-Ups!) – A Spotlight on Julie Kavanagh & Seth Shugar (Bonus: A Back-to-School Special)

My weekly Purposeful Empathy newsletter is dedicated to amplifying the voices of people from around the globe who believe the world needs more empathy - and are doing something about it. In August, I’m highlighting experts who understand the importance of emotional awareness and self-regulation within relationships, as well as the limits of empathy and how to overcome them.

It’s back-to-school-season! And as every parent (and teacher) knows, kids are like sponges. In the classroom, on the playground, and sitting around the dining room table. Every minute, they’re absorbing new ideas, learning about themselves, and what to think about the world. What often gets overlooked is how they learn to make sense of their feelings.

Cue Julie and Seth.

Julie Kavanagh is a skilled communicator with a background in marketing who now channels her creativity into stories that boost the social and emotional intelligence of children. Her partner, Seth Shugar, is a marital and family therapist and relationship coach who integrates Internal Family Systems therapy with somatic and mindfulness-based therapies to help his clients strengthen their relationships with others, themselves and the natural world. 

As new(ish) parents, they realized that helping their son and daughter to identify “big emotions” and express them at an early age could help them self-regulate, communicate and navigate relationships. So they developed a set of family practices, including a “Gratitude gumball machine” and a “Tear Jar.” 

As they witnessed the positive impact of helping their kids build their somatic awareness (in other words, how feelings felt in their bodies), they were inspired to develop a tool for other parents (as well as teachers and child psychologists). 

After years of extensive research and prototyping, the Feelings Deck for Kids was born. 

This beautifully illustrated deck of cards helps children identify and unpack their feelings. “Featuring a range of 30 different emotions, from angry and sad to grateful and proud, as well as a meditation or craft or activity for each feeling, kids can use these interactive cards to develop their emotional intelligence and gain self-acceptance. They’ll find ways to better understand feelings, build self-compassion, and share their emotional experiences—all in a fun, interactive way," reads Julie's website.

From breathing exercises to fun activities that teach kids how emotions manifest as physical sensations, I see this deck as an emotional intelligence primer. So much so, that I bet you'd learn a lot too. (Coming from first-hand experience!)

In a recent conversation on my podcast, Julie explains how she was often confused about some of her big feelings as a child - which often led to frustration or anger as a defense against uncomfortable feelings that she couldn't understand. 

Sound familiar?

That's why, with back-to-school around the corner, I highly recommend the Feeling Deck for Kids as a fabulous tool to help children name and nurture the big feelings they are sure to have in the weeks to come. 

And of course, empathy is one of the cards! :-)

Want to learn more about how social entrepreneurs are leveraging empathy to change the world? Order my debut book, Purposeful Empathy: Tapping Our Hidden Superpower for Personal, Organizational, and Social Change.

Watch my Purposeful Empathy interview with Julie and Seth on YouTube here or listen to it as a podcast on your favourite platform (Spotify or Apple Podcasts).