The Summer Shift: Big Emotions

With summer here, many of us are shifting into a different rhythm. School’s out, routines relax, and we get just a little more time with the kids in our lives.

That makes now the perfect moment to deepen your emotional health practice. At Walden Wise, we believe the heart of CoCreating is intention—choosing to show up for kids with presence, care, and attention to their emotional lives.

Summer, with all its freedom and flexibility, offers space for the kind of connection that lingers.

That’s why we’re so excited to share our newest Walden Wise Practice Lab: Navigating Big Emotions — a practical, science-based interactive experience for helping kids (and ourselves) better understand and move through emotional highs and lows.

This Lab includes: 

Dylan Gee, PhD

• Heartfelt audio guidance from Dylan Gee, Ph.D.
• Our CoCreator Emotional Health Check-up Quiz.
• Interactive Big Emotion cards with guidance on how to recognize and talk about 12 big emotions.

Plus access to our interactive Practice Guide, Emotion Navigator: Empowering Kids Through Every Feeling filled with more big emotion audio stories from Dr. Gee and loads of activities to try with the kids you care about.

Whether it’s a moment of frustration during a family trip, or an unexpected joy during a quiet morning at home—this Lab helps you meet every emotion with empathy and skill.

Explore the Big Emotions Practice Lab

Our Big Emotion Cards are now available as a printable set—perfect for summer moments when big feelings pop up.

Use them at the dinner table, on road trips, or tucked in your bag for wherever life with kids takes you.

Each card helps you name emotions together, spark conversation, and build emotional understanding—one meaningful moment at a time.

As CoCreators, we know emotional growth doesn’t just happen—it’s something we nurture, moment by moment. So as summer begins, let’s make space for those moments. Let’s practice together. And let’s remember: even the smallest exchange—when met with care—can have a lasting positive impact.

Walden Wise is a new community dedicated to bringing caring adults closer to each other and what works on behalf of children. We refer to our community members as CoCreators – caring adults who want to improve the lives of children by attending to their emotional health.

Please join us as we share valuable resources, connections and experiences to help you nurture the emotional health of the kids in your life.

At Walden Wise we call ourselves CoCreators. What kind of CoCreator are you? Let us know: Visit us at WaldenWise.org, join us on Facebook and Linked-In, follow us on Instagram. Visit our Leader Member page.