Emotional First-Aid with Stickers and Smiles

If I ever had to pick a job that pays in smiles, hugs, and doodled thank-you notes, it would be Children’s Counsellor. Not the clinical kind with a clipboard, but the kind with a cookie jar, a heart radar, and a listening ear that beeps at the sound of “Aunty, can I tell you something?”

Today’s kids are growing up in a world that feels like a race — not a fun potato sack one, but a never-ending sprint with report cards, reels, and random pressure. We had hide and seek; they have “hide your emotions and seek validation.”

I’d gladly set up a safe space — no judgment, just jellybeans — where children can speak their minds, vent their tiny (and big) worries, or just explain why broccoli is, in fact, a vegetable conspiracy.

“Children are not things to be molded, but people to be unfolded.” — Jess Lair

Give me their tantrums, their giggles, their confusion over why adults fight and still say “I love you” later. I’d be their decoding expert. My tools? A smile, silence in the right places, and maybe a glitter pen or two.

“Listen earnestly to anything your children want to tell you… even if it’s nonsense. If you don’t listen to the little stuff, they won’t tell you the big stuff.” — Catherine M. Wallace

Thought to ponder:
If children had a complaint box, would it be full of “They don’t listen” notes?