Help Kids Cope with Big Feelings with Imagine Neighborhood

Kids are having a lot of big feelings right now. Most adults probably are too. It can be hard for kids to cope with some of the emotions that come along with day-to-day life. Imagine Neighborhood, a new podcast series from the non-profit organization Committee for Children, helps kids to describe important Social Emotional Learning Skills, (SEL), and deal with big emotions.

My daughter has been acting up over the last few days, which isn’t like her. I finally sat down and asked her what was going on. She mostly shrugged her shoulders and tried to avoid the question.

I finally asked, “Are you scared right now?”

Her eyes filled up with tears and she nodded.

There are some scary things going on in the world right now and it can be a lot for kids to deal with.

Imagine Neighborhood, a new podcast from The Committee for Children helps kids to put a name to those emotions and find ways to deal with them.

I first told my kids about the podcast last week before their lives started to feel a bit crazy and they learned what the word ‘pandemic’ meant. They aren’t familiar with podcasts so their reaction was “So, it’s like TV but with no picture? Sounds boring.”.

Then I turned on Imagine Neighborhood.

My kids were laughing along with the stories and begged me to turn another episode on as soon as the first one ended.

The stories are really engaging for kids and they talk about big issues without feeling overwhelming.

My kids were jumping around the house chanting “The clouds are made of cake!” after one of their favorite episodes and now they’ve turned the phrase into a bit of an inside joke between them.

Each episode is only 15-minutes long so they are perfect for kid-sized attention span. I plan to use the episodes in the future as a way to calm my kids down when they need a minute to regroup.

Social Emotional Learning is often overlooked in favor of traditional academics but it is so important for kids to learn how to be resilient and cope with some of these huge emotions that they feel.

The first episode of Imagine Neighborhood, released on March 16, 2020 talks about how being scared feels in your body. This is especially timely with everything that is going on in the world today and I’d highly recommend listening to at least the first episode with your kids.

Episodes can be downloaded to listen to on the go. We found that the length of the podcasts is perfect for short trips in the car. I love using car rides to talk about important issues with my kids because it is one of the few times that I have a captive audience and I find my kids are better able to focus.

Each episode of Imagine Neighborhood that I listened to with my kids sparked some important conversations in our home. The host, Scotty Iseri, a Chicago Public Radio veteran, has a soothing voice and does a great job keeping kids engaged. He pulls kids in and helps give them words to some of those big feelings that they don’t know what to do with.

The podcast uses creative storytelling and pop songs to help kids understand complex emotions and they are really fun to listen to.

The podcast is available at iTunes, Spotify,Google Play and Stitcher and all episodes are free.