Hi everybody.
It's noah.
You may have noticed that it's been a while since i posted a new episode.
That's because for the past six months, I've been very busy preparing to launch something brand new.
I'm excited to announce that the Like You Children's Film Festival will be taking place in Memphis Tennessee, this November 22nd and 23rd.
It will be two days of films by filmmakers around the world. plus workshops, crafts, and activities.
If you're anywhere near Memphis, I hope you'll consider joining us for this exciting weekend of family fun.
The festival is presented by a new nonprofit Like You Film Club, which supports the emotional growth and mental health of kids through the power of film.
Grownups can visit likeyoufilmclub.org to learn more about the nonprofit and the festival.
And be sure to follow Like You Film Club on Instagram, because we're working on future plans for kids' podcasts about movies.
But today, I've got a different treat for you listeners around the world.
I'm super proud to be part of a new podcast called Big Emotions, Kids Listen mashups about feelings.
This podcast series was put together by my good friends at Kids Listen, who advocate for high quality audio for children.
Big Emotions brings together lots of different kids podcasters from across the internet to, And each week they focus on a different range of emotions.
Last week's episode focused on embarrassment and pride.
Well, you know how much we love to talk about big feelings, unlike you.
So I knew I had to be a part of this episode.
Today I'm sharing that mashup episode in my feed.
Take a big breath, relax, and get ready. to explore the big emotions of embarrassment and pride.
Hello and a warm welcome.
We're so glad you're here for part two of episode five in our big emotions journey, where we're continuing to explore the feelings that shape our lives.
I'm Molly Bloom and if you joined us for part one, you'll remember we looked at what it means to feel self-conscious, how emotions like embarrassment can feel overwhelming and how pride can lift us up.
We laughed with Ari, cringed with Miso the squid and reflected on hubris with a tale of the Titanic.
And now in part two, we'll dig into two more powerful emotions, guilt and shame.
Feelings that can be tough to sit with, but also give us important clues about who we are and how we want to move through the world.
Plus, we'll hear more incredible stories from some of our favorite kids' listen shows, stories that help us dig deeper into these big emotions and how they shape the way we see ourselves and the people around us.
So, get comfy, settle in, and let's keep exploring together.
Have you ever done something you knew you shouldn't have?
Of course you have.
Maybe you told your teacher you were almost done with a project you haven't even started, or you shared a friend's secret after promising not to.
That uncomfortable feeling afterward?
That's guilt.
It's like a little voice in your head saying, ugh, I shouldn't have done that.
But guilt can also be helpful.
It nudges us to apologize, make things right, and do better next time.
We explored that more in Episode 3 on anger and forgiveness, so be sure to check out that one if you haven't already.
Feelings can come up inside us like a tiny whisper or a surging wave.
Some gnaw at us, eroding our peace of mind. bit by bit.
Some flood in so powerfully they take over, making it hard to think straight or be ourselves.
Either way, they can affect our bodies, our relationships, and even the way we see the world.
So it's important that we listen to them.
Now let's talk about shame.
It's one of the most painful emotions we can feel.
When we're embarrassed, we worry that someone saw us mess up and is laughing at us.
When we feel guilty, we think, I did something wrong.
But shame?
Shame feels deeper.
It tells us, I didn't just do something bad.
I am bad.
Shame can make us want to hide or pull away, but it can also offer a chance to learn and grow.
It's like a quiet reminder to reflect on who we are, what matters to us and how we want to show up in the world.
Just like hubris is wrong when it says others have no value, shame is wrong when it says you have no worth.
Everyone makes mistakes, and everyone is worthy of love and respect, including you.
You can use your feeling of shame or guilt to help you figure out how you want to move forward.
Our first clip comes from the Good Words podcast, a show that celebrates the meaning behind the words we use to describe our feelings.
In this clip, host Lynn shares a personal memory from childhood in a recurring segment called The Do-Over, imagining how she could have handled things differently.
Through storytelling and kid-performed reenactments we see how shame one of the trickier self-conscious emotions, can shift when we look at it with fresh eyes.
Let's take a listen.
The summer after eighth grade, I worked as a junior counselor at Girl Scout camp.
While I was there, I became friends with another junior counselor named Penny.
We had so much in common and laughed, talked, and were pretty much inseparable for two weeks.
Penny was staying on until the end of the summer, when the pins we had earned in our junior counselor program were being given out.
So we exchanged addresses and she promised to get mine and send it to me.
I was so excited to exchange letters and hang out with her once the summer was over.
A few weeks after school had started up again, I hadn't heard anything from Penny or gotten my pin in the mail.
I wrote to her to see how the new year was going.
After another month passed, I came home from school to find an envelope from Penny waiting for me.
I was elated.
She apologized for the delay in getting me my pin and wrote a couple of sentences about her busy schedule now that school had started again.
I went right to my desk and wrote her a long letter back about my new school.
I never heard from Penny again.
I was heartbroken and confused.
Maybe Penny hadn't liked me as much as I liked her.
I felt ashamed that she had only been nice to me because we had been thrown together at camp.
I stuck her letter in the bottom of a drawer and didn't say anything to anyone about it.
The summer with Penny was great, but I wanted it to go on longer.
I expected it to go on longer.
The fact was that reality didn't match up with my expectations, and that mismatch was what made me sad.
If I could travel back in time and talk to my younger self, I would want her to know that it's okay to be upset about something good coming to an end.
And also that, even though her friendship with Penny was only for a short time, that doesn't mean it wasn't real.
Lots of experiences in life are ephemeral, but that doesn't make them any less valuable.
As far as her disappointment and shame about her friendship with Penny coming to an end, I would tell her what it took me a long time to learn.
Anytime you're experiencing difficult feelings, it's a good idea to share them with someone else.
Unspoken feelings can be a big, painful jumble.
But I have found that lots of times putting those feelings in words for someone else can make them feel less powerful and more manageable.
Mom, remember Penny who I made friends with at camp last summer?
I liked her so much.
We said we'd write each other after the summer was over.
She sent me my junior counselor pin, but she hasn't written back to me since then and I'm afraid she's not going to.
I feel really hurt and sad about it.
I don't think she liked me as much as I liked her.
The Summer Room That was such a powerful way to think about shame.
Lynn's story shows how shame can come from moments that don't go the way we hoped.
But just because something ends differently than expected doesn't mean it wasn't meaningful.
Her do-over wasn't about changing the past.
It was about seeing it differently, with compassion.
That's the great thing about self-conscious emotions.
They don't have to trap us.
They can help us understand what matters and how we want to respond next time.
And sometimes talking about how we feel with someone we trust can be the best kind of do-over of all.
Now let's explore another side of embarrassment and pride, the kind we feel about other people.
Have you ever felt secondhand embarrassment like wincing when someone else does something awkward, or felt proud of a friend or sibling for something they accomplished?
In this next story from the Story Seeds podcast, we'll hear how one kid turned his difference into a strength and gave us all something to feel proud of.
This episode is called The View from the Top and features 13-year-old Jasper, who dreamed up a story about a 74-foot-tall boy who's embarrassed by his height until he becomes the world's tallest detective.
With the help of author Chris Grabenstein, they bring this story to life.
Let's listen.
Zeta did a little more digging.
Using his voice-activated computer, he tracked down the Japanese restaurant where his mother had eaten the sushi.
Ah, I remember that night, said the chef proudly.
We had a special.
Takamaki rolls filled with tuna from a giant bluefin caught off the coast of Nova Scotia.
It weighed 1,500 pounds.
It was the biggest tuna ever caught.
Zeta's mother ate a giant fish.
She gave birth to a giant baby.
Case closed.
That Tekmaki did this to me, Zeta muttered.
It ruined my life.
It had also ruined his mother's, he realized.
Mrs Zingoni never adjusted to the fact that her son shattered all the Guinness Book records for world's tallest two-year-old and world's largest kindergartner and even the world's most gigantic trick-or-treater.
The year he dressed up as Really Big Bird and crushed several of his neighbor's lawn ornaments, toppled picket fences and squished parked cars when he went strolling through the neighborhood with a sack the size of a deflated hot air balloon.
One night, right before the holidays, Mrs. Zingoni had had enough.
You sneezed and broke all my best china, she screamed up at her son.
You also broke the china cabinet, sent it sailing through the dining room wall.
We can't have anything nice in this house because of you.
We can't even have a roof.
It was true.
Zeta had burst through the roof of their three-story mansion when he was 11.
Now, when it rained, the mansion's basement flooded.
That's okay, son, said his dad cheerfully.
I always wanted an indoor swimming pool.
But mother is so mad.
It's not your fault, Zeta, said his father.
You dug up the truth.
It was that blasted bluefin tuna sushi.
Takamaki.
Poor Jasper.
Being so tall made him feel out of place and really embarrassed.
But he found a way to use what made him different in an amazing way.
We all have things we wish we could change, like maybe the way we look or something that makes us feel different from everyone else.
But sometimes what we feel embarrassed about becomes our greatest strength.
And just like we show compassion to others when they feel unsure, we can show that same kindness to ourselves.
And guess what?
That kindness has a name.
It's called self-compassion.
It means being gentle with ourselves and treating ourselves with the same care we'd offer a friend, especially when we feel embarrassed, frustrated or unsure.
Self-compassion helps us forgive our mistakes, appreciate our differences and believe that we're learning and growing every day.
It also makes space for a healthy kind of pride, the kind that comes from knowing you tried your best, were kind to someone or overcame something hard, even if no one else saw it.
We've covered a lot about embarrassment and pride in this episode.
We've seen how they can help us grow, how they can connect us to others and how they challenge us to be kind, especially to ourselves.
So let's pause and check in.
Can you think of an embarrassing moment that helped shape who you are?
Is there something you've done that you feel truly proud of?
How about someone else you're proud of?
Take a moment to notice how that feeling shows up in your body.
Maybe it's a smile, a warm chest, or a deep breath.
Our final stop on this emotional journey comes from, like you, Mindfulness for Kids.
This podcast uses breathing music and imagination to help kids explore their feelings and grow empathy.
In this clip we'll hear a song called Proud of You, which encourages listeners to call to mind something they're proud of and remember that, no matter what, they're always enough.
Let's take a deep breath. and listen together.
Can you think of a time you felt proud for any reason, big or small?
As you remember that proud moment, think about how you felt inside.
Now puff out your chest.
Hold your head up high and take a deep breath in and out.
Just like we all have proud moments, we all have moments when we feel embarrassed.
But remember the same person you were when you felt proud is the same person you are when you feel embarrassed.
You are always you.
When you learn to be proud of who you are inside, then you know it's okay to make mistakes.
It's okay to try and fail.
It's okay to get the answer wrong.
Because we all do embarrassing things sometimes.
So in case no one has told you lately, here's a song to say I'm proud of you.
Whether you lose or whether you win.
Think of thoughts that makes you grin.
Wherever you go or wherever you've been, Be proud of who you are within.
I'm proud of you And I hope that you are too.
Not because of what you do, but just for being you.
I'm proud of you, and I hope that you're proud too.
And as long as you are you, that always will be true.
I'm proud of you.
Whether you fly or whether you fall, Lift your eyes up and stand up tall.
If you win the game or if you drop the ball, You're still the same you after all.
I'm proud of you, and I hope that you are too, Not because of what you do.
But just for being you.
I'm proud of you.
And I hope that you're proud too.
And as long as you are you.
What a beautiful way to end, with a reminder that we can be proud of who we are, whether we've done something incredible or just kept going through a hard day.
It's time for a little self-reflection with our activity for this episode, developed with the insights of our consulting psychologist, Dr Eileen Kennedy Moore.
This exercise will help us understand our feelings of embarrassment and pride.
Let's try this.
We're going to try a special kind of journaling, by looking at ourselves as an observer, like a kind and caring friend, watching what we experience.
This is taking a third-person perspective.
You know how when we're in it, our emotions can feel really big?
Stepping back to see ourselves, as that friend would, can help soften those intense feelings and allow us to connect with ourselves with more understanding and compassion.
Whether you're at home or in the classroom, take a moment just for you.
Reflect on a specific time you felt really embarrassed.
Picture that moment as if you were a kind friend watching it unfold.
What would that friend have noticed about what happened and how you reacted?
Then shift your focus to a specific time you felt truly proud of something you did.
Imagine that same caring friend witnessing your accomplishment.
What would they have seen that made you feel so good?
As you hold those experiences in your mind through your friend's eyes, take some time to journal about what comes up for you.
Bring in everything we've talked about, those moments of discomfort and those feelings of accomplishment, as you write down what your kind observer would see and understand.
Breathe it all in noticing how these memories settle in your understanding when you view them with this friendly perspective.
For educators and caregivers.
Looking to explore this further, you can find a more in-depth version of this journaling exercise as a PDF in our show notes.
What a thoughtful exploration of embarrassment and pride.
Through these stories, we've seen how both feelings play a role in understanding ourselves and connecting with others.
Embarrassment, though sometimes uncomfortable, reminds us we care about how we're seen, while pride helps us recognize our achievements and the good in ourselves.
Just like Ari Miso and the characters in our other stories showed up, these emotions are a common part of being human.
Remembering their experiences can help us navigate our own moments of awkwardness or accomplishment.
Whether it's a silly mistake or a moment of success, these feelings help us learn and grow.
Remember, embarrassment reminds us we care.
Pride reminds us we can shine.
Guilt helps us fix mistakes.
And shame reminds us to be kind to ourselves.
This is just part of our Big Emotions series.
We'll be back next Tuesday as we explore the many layers of love and sadness.
Prepare for a heartfelt journey as we uncover the surprising ways these powerful emotions connect and perhaps even ask can you truly have one without the other?
Thanks so much for listening and being part of this Kids Listen mashup.
Until next time, stay curious, stay kind, and remember, big emotions aren't something to fear.
They're something to feel.
This episode has been a Kids Listen collaboration created by Tal Kelly, Jenna Clark and Dr Eileen Kennedy Moore, hosted by me, Molly Bloom.
This Big Emotions Kids Listen mashups about feelings is produced by Tal Kelly, executive writer, Jenna Clark, content director at Sleepiest and Koala Kids.
In consultation with Eileen Kennedy Moore, PhD and author and clinical psychologist based in Princeton, New Jersey.
A special thanks goes out to all our contributors.
We place links to our featured podcasts in this episode's show notes.
Our intro music was created and generously provided by the wonderful Dan Sachs of Noodle Loaf.
You can find full music credits in the show notes.
If you'd like to share your artwork, another powerful way to express emotions is through art.
Email a photo to kidslistenmashups at gmail.com and we will proudly share it on social media.
Educators interested in applying this as an SEL resource in their classroom can find a PDF guide in the show notes.
If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a nice review or share the show with someone you love.
Thanks for tuning into our emotions as well as our mashups.
