Gratitude, resilience, optimism and wellbeing – these four pillars underpin The Grow Journal, a toolkit designed to help kids and teens build a healthy, functional mindset.
Founders Jessica Kent and Caroline Coquet-Smith met when their eldest children started preschool and bonded over a shared desire to help their little humans become resilient in the face of negative emotions and challenging experiences.
With a background in developmental psychology, Kent was inspired by her own parenting journey. “I began to realise that I couldn’t bubble wrap my children and protect them from feeling negative emotions from time to time. But I wanted to help them handle challenges when they popped up,” she says. “I watched my kids benefit from creating these powerful mindsets and skills, and wanted to find a way to share this with others.”
Joining forces with Coquet-Smith was a natural fit. A graphic designer and art director, she had previously worked for National Geographic Kids Magazine. With knowledge and understanding of how kids’ minds work when reading and processing information visually, Coquet-Smith set to work designing engaging, colourful pages that offer interactive elements, illustrations and practical tips.
The A5 designs come in a choice of orange or turquoise covers for kids, and navy or lilac for teens. The pages are filled with guided journaling prompts, mindful colouring images, questions for developing emotional awareness and space for self-reflective writing. And with a weighty paper stock, the journals are pencil, crayon and texta friendly.
After launching the initial Kids Grow Journal, designed for six- to 12-year-olds, the pair created the Teen Grow Journal for older kids.
“Thoughts and feelings become more complex in the teen years, and they begin facing more challenging aspects of life like stress, comparison, judgement, rejection and body image. We wanted to find a way to support teens with these things,” Kent says.
Kent thinks helping children validate their emotions is one of the most powerful lessons a parent can learn.
“It can be hard to see our kids feeling uncomfortable, and it’s natural for us to want to make them feel better. But if we can try and regulate ourselves, and stay calm, it’s much easier to allow our kids to feel how they’re feeling without experiencing the urge to fix it,” she says.
Recognising that you’re never too old to create new habits and develop a positive mindset, The Grow Journal will launch an adult edition in the near future. “In the meantime, anyone can actually use our current editions,” Kent says. “Both versions feature a gratitude practice, self awareness questions and uplifting affirmations and quotes – these tools are great for anyone, at any stage of life.”
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