How to Begin
So, you bought a copy of The Inside Squad… Now what? Are you feeling excited about incorporating the book into your family’s life, or are you feeling a bit overwhelmed? We hope that the book provides an easy to follow framework for you and the children in your life to start building and strengthening those inside muscles with ease. And we also know that beginning something new can often feel daunting. We, as humans, love to put lots of pressure on ourselves. “OK, now I need to be absolutely perfect in the way I introduce this into my family. Also, I have to be an excellent example of all these skills before I can share them with my child.” — Does that sound familiar? I know it does for me,
But the truth is - you don’t have to be perfect. You don’t even have to be great. You don’t need to put pressure on yourself to get it right. You can bring these tools into your family life even when you are still learning how to use them yourself. Introducing these skills and using the content in The Inside Squad in your own environment can look a thousand different ways, and all of them are valuable. All of them will enrich not only your child’s life, but also your own. Here are some ideas to get you started on a journey that is not only enriching but also sustainable:
Look through the book with your child and pick out your favorite character, then read about them.
Choose one of the power phrases to be your phrase for the week. Write it on a post-it note and put it on the refrigerator, or take turns repeating your phrase out loud while in the car driving to school or other events.
Incorporate the Collaborative Drawing exercise from Collaboration the next time you are waiting anywhere - at a restaurant, at the doctor’s office, at a sibling’s sporting event, etc!
Make an emotions jar. There’s so much you can do with one of these!
take turns drawing a paper out of the jar and acting it out - can the other person guess how you’re feeling?
take turns drawing a paper out of the jar and then talk about the last time you felt the emotion that you drew.
One of the wonderful things about this book is that it can provide a place in your life where you and your child can learn and practice something together. There’s no need to be an expert at these skills before working on them with your children. In fact, the nature of these skills is that there isn’t an end - we will continue to get better at flexing our inside muscles, regardless of our age, for our entire lives. Any amount of time spent incorporating these skills into your lives is going to be valuable, but remember: It will be even more valuable if you have fun together while you’re doing it.
