#3 October 2025: Kindness First
Newsletter
Monthly Mental Health Tips
#5 December 2025: Anchor
As the year winds down and the snow begins to fall, many families might be feeling the mix of excitement, routine changes, and some holiday stress. December can bring lots of joy, but it can also bring sensory overwhelm, disrupted schedules, and big emotions for kids and teens. This month, we’re focusing on building compassionate structure, expectation resets, and co-regulation to help your family move through the season with more ease!
Why Holidays Feel “Big” for Kids
Holidays may bring:
Changes in routine (school breaks, late nights, travel)
Sensory overload (noise, crowds, smells, new clothing expectations)
Social demands (extended family, gift etiquette, transitions)
Reduced predictability, which leads to increased rigidity or anxiety
Kids might show this with more meltdowns or shutdowns, clinginess or withdrawal, difficulty with sleeping, swings in energy or appetite, or more negotiations. This is all normal. Dysregulation this month does not mean setbacks… It often means your child needs extra anchoring, not extra pressure.
One anchor is creating a reset routine. A reset routine is a predictable/comforting pattern your child can return to when the day feels overwhelming or unpredictable. It’s a simple routine that helps their nervous system know, “I’m safe, and I know what comes next.” within all the “big” feelings. https://instituteofchildpsychology.com/holiday-meltdowns/?srsltid=AfmBOoosFaJhiHc3CGLB087ut1Tkye5R8goK4QyZIITjJXoZYi7daLV2
How to Use It:
1. Pick 2–3 “non-negotiable” anchors
Examples: morning breakfast together, quiet time after school, reading at bedtime.
2. Name them out loud
“No matter the holiday plans, these will stay the same.”
3. Use visual reminders
A sticky note, calendar doodle, or simple picture schedule.
More December At-Home Activities for Regulation
These are also some low-demand, sensory-friendly, and great for bonding activities to do this month:
Holiday scavenger hunt
“Gingerbread Body Check-In” (where is your dough tight? soft? warm?)
5-Minute family stretch breaks
Emotion Ornaments: draw a feeling on a paper ornament and hang it on a “feelings tree” each morning or every check in.
We hope that everyone has a great December and are grateful to be a part of so many families' journeys.
#4 November 2025: Stick Season is Here
As November settles in, many families might begin noticing changes in their child’s mood, energy, sleep, and flexibility. Shorter days, colder weather, and less sunlight affect children’s nervous systems much more than we often realize. If your child seems “off” this month, you are not alone, November brings a natural dip in regulation for many kids and teens.Take.
As daylight decreases and routines get heavier, children often experience more deregulation throughout the day. In most cases, this is normal due to our biology. Less sunlight impacts melatonin, sleep cycles, and even serotonin levels. Combine that with the school-year ramping up, colder weather limiting outdoor play, and reduced spontaneous movement our regulation naturally dips.
Many parents wonder:
“Why are mornings suddenly so hard?”
“Why are they more emotional?”
“Why does everything feel like a negotiation?”
“Why are after-school hours tougher than usual?”
Because their nervous systems are working harder with fewer natural regulation supports (sunlight, movement, outdoor play, sensory warmth, social energy). Kids might not be aware that things are more difficult but their capacity simply is lower right now.
Strategies to Support Emotional Regulation This Month
Build in an “After-School Buffer Zone”
From 3–5pm, kids often hit their lowest emotional tank of the day.
Try:
A no-demands transition period
Snacks paired with protein
Quiet sensory activities (Legos, drawing, kinetic sand)
A warm drink
Movement breaks (hallway races, yoga cards)
This helps them rebalance before homework, chores, or evening transitions.
2. Increase Access to Light
With less natural sunlight, kids’ bodies crave brightness.
Support them with:
Morning sunlight (even 5 minutes at the window helps)
Opening blinds immediately after waking
Warm lamps or salt lamps
Optional: child-safe “happy lights” used briefly in the morning
Light tells the brain: wake up, regulate, orient.
3. Expect More Fatigue
Kids might need:
Earlier bedtimes
Slower mornings
Easier transitions
More predictable routines
This is less about regressing their state of engagement in the therapeutic process or going back a few steps. It’s about trying to meet their nervous system where it is.
4. Use Body-Based Regulation Tools
Especially helpful when kids are more reactive:
Bear hugs
Slow, heavy squeezes to arms/legs
Jumping or stomping
Wall push-ups
Breathing into a stuffed animal
Warm compresses or heating pads
Their bodies regulate and then the behavior follows.
5. Adjust Your Expectations, Too
Parents also feel the effects of darker days — low energy, irritability, overwhelm.
Ask yourself:
“What can I soften this week?”
“Where can I add five minutes of slowness?”
“What expectations can I adjust to protect our relationship?”
Written for you by Anna Peet, Counseling Intern at Rise and Shine Family Therapy
“If I want my child to become a kind person who cares about others, what opportunities do I give them to practice this?”
Recently, while I was babysitting, I watched two children playing in the sandbox at a nearby playground. One had just finished building an elaborate sandcastle while the other child began to wander over. The child seemed very hesitant but eventually got the courage to ask, “Can I help?” The builder child only slightly paused to look at the other child, clearly protective of what they had made (it was pretty elaborate if I do say so myself!). Then, after a moment’s contemplation and finishing up what they had their hands on, they stepped back and said, “Sure, you can make the bridge.” The pause that the child made stuck with me, because they were able to hold space for a moment and recognize that there was more space to let someone in, to share the work and creativity, and to practice kindness to others. This unprompted moment between two young children was such a refreshing experience to witness and reminded me of the book I have been reading called Never Enough by Jennifer Wallace, and one section in particular—Don’t Worry Alone—has stayed with me. In it she quotes Psychiatrist Edward Hallowell’s rule that he calls the most important rule when it comes to worrying about a child (or anything else): never worry alone.
A concept that seems so simple, yet we all fall victim to it. In a culture that so often pushes children (and even more often adults) to be independent, productive, and achievement-focused, we sometimes forget how essential it is to lean on others. Asking for help doesn’t show weakness… It shows trust. It communicates that we matter enough to have our needs met, and it tells others that they matter, too. When I watched that child take a break from guarding their castle and open it up to another, I was reminded how small pauses can teach big lessons. Breaks create room for connection, collaboration, and compassion.
Teaching children and yourself to not worry alone:
Children often learn best through practice and learning kindness and patience is no exception. This practice is not being told to be “nice”, but by experiencing moments where sharing, helping, and letting others in feels safe. So how might we practice this at home:
Narrate the pause for the child
This is a great opportunity to practice and model what our inner pause might look like:
I’m not sure yet…let me think
I want to share, but I don’t think I am ready yet
I’m feeling unsure about this…. I need a moment to pause and think
This helps us slow down as parents and also teaches children that hesitation is okay and that kindness isn’t rushed
2. Make asking for help a strength rather than a last resort
Maybe you as the parent struggle with this concept too and this is a great opportunity for reflection on what asking for help really means. Many parents internalize worry and carrying it quietly, hoping to manage it all alone. Kids absorb this pattern.
Practice statements like:
In our family, we don’t worry alone
Everyone needs help sometimes – including grown-ups
As we start to normalize it, it soon becomes easier. Maybe you begin to integrate these statements by sharing a small worry with your partner, friend, or support person alone and remind yourself that you aren’t practicing worry alone.
3. Create “Connection Moments” Instead of Problem Moments
Not every teaching moment has to happen in distress.
Build small, predictable rituals that reinforce connection:
A nightly “What did you need help with today?” check-in
A weekly family “sharing circle”
A 2-minute morning reset: “What do we each need from each other today?
4. Reflect on Your Own History With Asking for Help
Often, parents hesitate to ask for help because:
It wasn’t modeled for them growing up
They were praised for independence
They learned that needs = burden
They associate help with failure
5. Invite reflection:
“What messages did I learn about asking for help?”
“What do I want my child to learn instead?”
When you shift the pattern, your child receives a new, more compassionate template.
The sandbox moment was such a small interaction but the lesson that the children encountered was so big. A single pause that creates space for connection is such a beautiful moment and as parents, you deserve that space too. You don’t have to carry everything alone and your child doesn’t either. Have a great October and we will see you all soon.
Written for you by Anna Peet, Counseling Intern at Rise and Shine Family Therapy
#3 October 2025: Kindness First and Foremost
#2 September 2025: Standing in 2 Seasons
The other day, I was walking outside and noticed the very first hints of color on the trees, just a few leaves shifting from green to gold. It struck me how quickly change can happen. One day the branches look the same as always, and the next, they’re telling us the season is moving forward whether we feel ready or not.
September often feels like standing in two seasons at once. The air still carries summer’s warmth, yet the trees remind us fall is near. Our days are filled with routines settling in: school schedules, sports practices, work commitments even while we’re still holding on to the last traces of open summer evenings. This “in-between” space can feel both grounding and overwhelming for a lot of us.
With this in mind, it’s worth pausing to reflect on this transition:
What from summer do I want to carry forward?
What new routines will help me feel grounded this fall?
What values do I want my time and energy to reflect this season?
Creating intentions around these reflections can go a long way. For example, you might commit to calm starts in the morning with tea and a book, or intentionally block off time in your calendar for play and rest.
As we each begin to shape our intentions for this season, it can help to pair reflection with small, practical steps. Even simple shifts in our daily routines can make transitions feel lighter. Here are three ways to stay grounded this month:
Make a “launch pad” space – one place for bags, papers, or essentials to smooth out transitions.
Add a micro-ritual – a 5-minute walk, a few deep breaths before bed, or jotting down one thing you’re grateful for.
Protect connection time – schedule (even briefly) something that brings joy with your family, friends, or yourself.
Written for you by Anna Peet, Counseling Intern at Rise and Shine Family Therapy
#1 August 2025: What is your Mission Statement?
Years ago, I found a plaque at a bargain store that read, “How we spend our days is how we spend our lifes.” Against the part of me that screamed “spelling error!!,” I bought it and hung it in my en suite bathroom. This quote grounded me at a pivotal time in my life when the schedules of little ones seemed so beyond my control. Child feeding time, working, changing a diaper, setting up a sitter, maybe a shower, planning flights for holidays, working, texting a friend, working, grocery shopping, cooking, emailing, picking up toys, going to the park - all tasks that took up my days back then and many that still do now. I have since updated the decor in my bathroom and while I no longer have the misspelled plaque, I have found the original quote and corrected the spelling as I will share with you below.
“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing. A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. It is a scaffolding on which a worker can stand and labor with both hands at sections of time. A schedule is a mock-up of reason and order—willed, faked, and so brought into being; it is a peace and a haven set into the wreck of time; it is a lifeboat on which you find yourself, decades later, still living.”
― Annie Dillard, The Writing Life, emphasis added
It is the end of August and likely mere days before the start of school for many. Calendars are blowing up with sports schedules, required forms to sign, back to school events, therapy confirmation times ;), registrations for extracurricular activities, and maybe even a request from a friend or family member to take a trip together. As you plan your schedule this season, I beg you to step back and reflect:
How do I want to live this hour, this month, this school season?
What do I genuinely value?
How does my time reflect the values I want to instill within my family?
How does my time reflect the values I want to live by within myself?
Write down a mission statement for this school year and put it in your bathroom, or somewhere else where you will see it regularly. It is a wise practice to write down goals, and in this case - your mission statement for the school year. Many do better with an example, so here is our mission statement!
Mission Statement: Rise and Shine Family Therapy, LLC strives to provide quality, evidence-based treatment to youth and their caregivers through individual, group, and family services. We aim to empower individual and family systems with skills that allow them to RISE from ambivalence, isolation, and distress to a place where they SHINE and grow in relationships, cognitions, and wellness; living with purpose.
We’d like your Feedback!! Please complete this Anonymous Google Form to share your thoughts on how we are living up to our Mission https://forms.gle/9YnkrfDZvh7uC586A
Written for you by Shanna Kraai, Clinical Director & Therapist at Rise and Shine Family Therapy