GUEST POST by Malicah Eissa

Teaching children how to deal with difficult emotions, how to enjoy positive ones even more, and how to live their authentic self is Mindful Panda’s mission. MindCove is on a similar mission to empower children through developing a deeper sense of self-awareness and understanding of emotion that impact the experiences in their lives using story, meditation and creative expression. When the Covid 19 ‘crisis’ hit and normalcy, as we all know it, shook globally, we knew those most impacted would be our children. Having collaborated previously, we felt it is only natural we develop something for our audience to support them during this time. That’s why we created the beautiful  WHEN AT HOME pack for families.

Covid19 WHEN AT HOME Pack

A large theme of the story, and this entire experience, is the impact our quarantine had on nature and the necessity for humanity to provide Mother Earth with some breathing space too. Recognizing one of the more positive outcomes of this experience, has been our ability to pause and notice the beauty that surrounds us everyday, enabled us to realize how abusive we have been and take a vow to do better for our planet that sustains us. It was again, naturally, a no-brainer Save Our World be a part of this effort considering everything the Eco-Heroes stand for.

Sometimes, it feels like there is not much space for processing emotions in today’s global society. Our children have to function, be successful and follow schedules everyday. Rushing from one appointment to another, having to study hard to get good grades in school, to finally be ‘someone’, as if they weren’t ‘someone’ yet; placing our kids under a ton of pressure. The sudden disruption the pandemic created, threw us all off our daily ‘must dos’. While that was scary and gave rise to anxiety, confusion and even anger, it also gave back something we often take for granted; time. It provided opportunities to get closer with our family members and experience a very different world together and also gave rise to questions of why we cannot see our extended families or close friends.

There was certainly room for a lot more ‘alone time’ providing the space for different emotions to pop up and others to fester. Words like ‘worried’, ‘bored’, ‘scared’, ‘lonely’, ‘sad’ became commonly used words in households. We wanted kids to know they weren’t alone, it was absolutely ok to feel all these things, and find ways to talk about them; but to learn it is also equally important to find the silver lining and stay positive for both their emotional and physical well-being. We wanted to help parents with resources and tools to support the process with their children, empowering them through the understanding of their emotions and what they are experiencing and use that to cope, grow and transform their mindsets. Through Jakob’s journey, we hoped, and continue to hope, other children would relate and integrate some of the learnings and strategies Jakob came out with.

All three founders involved in this collaboration come from very diverse backgrounds, both culturally and professionally, united to achieve a common goal; playing their part in supporting our future generations in such unprecedented times of uncertainty. We believe the completion of the “While at Home” pack epitomizes the true essence of #inthistogether. It has been a pleasure and an honor to work with Colette and Julia to make this pack happen.

All the very best readers,

Love Malicah

Malicah Eissa, Founder of MindCove