Planning for Winter Break
The arrival of winter break signals a variety of challenges for many of us – holidays, travel, gathering with family and friends. It also means one major thing every year: calendar chaos! Between our own holiday commitments and our mentees' end of semester activities,...
The Seedling Mentor Portal
Maintaining accurate records of visits is required by Seedling’s school partners and grant reports. Accurately reporting hours served by Seedling Mentors proves the scope of impact you are having across the Austin metro! The Mentor Portal is a tool that documents your...
Seedling Nurturing
I have a super handy app on my iPhone, a life saver for any novice who enjoys growing plants. It is my go-to if my beloved flora is looking droopy or sad. All I have to do is pull up the app, snap a picture and presto, a specific Rx pops up to tell me how to care for...
Qualities Of A Good Role Model
Youngsters usually benefit from having a relationship with someone older and wiser to mentor them. Although the mentor might be a teacher, family member or more experienced peer, not everyone is suitable to be an influential, positive role model. Effective role models...
Politics Anyone?
Presidential elections always come with a bit of apprehension, and the 2024 election is no exception. Psychologists and child experts have repeatedly documented how youth in America care strongly about elections. This can manifest as general anxiety about policies...
Harkening Back to the Basics of Mentoring
While some mentors are fresh out of New Mentor Orientation this school year, many have been mentoring for years and have built up plenty of experience and skills. Regardless of how long it has been, it is good to revisit some of the important basics of being a...
New Year’s Goal Setting
The start of the New Year is a great time to collaborate with your mentee about goals and envisioning the future. Talk to your mentee about some things they’d like to accomplish this year, in school or in their personal lives. To kick off the brainstorming process,...
Getting Educated about Bullying
As Mentors, we are curious and concerned if our mentee shares they are having difficulties with their classmates. We know most kids will experience various conflicts with a peer as they develop, and so we encourage them to “take the high road” and “not take it...
Ready, Set, Go Mentor!
When I think about the new school year, I can’t help but get excited because it means I will be seeing my Seedling mentee again. I love hearing about her summer and her new classes as we settle back into our routine. I am delighted she lets me be in her life, to be...
Let’s Grow Together
Human development is a lifelong process of physical, behavioral, cognitive, and emotional growth and change. As our mentee grows and learns new things each year, it is important for mentors to keep up! Understanding our mentee’s current developmental stage is...
Vulnerability in Mentoring
Vulnerability is often considered a weakness and something to avoid. Bestselling author Brene’ Brown, PhD, has devoted over 12 years researching vulnerability, and has found that uncertainty, risk and emotional exposure (vulnerability) is actually the birthplace of...
Addressing Bullying as a Mentor
In the age of the internet and social media, bullying has become amplified as children and teens become victims of its effects. As mentors, you are in a unique position to support your mentee if they are experiencing bullying, and also provide guidance if your mentee...
Learning From Each Other
February was a busy month as Seedling Mentor Directors hosted Support Meetings for our Mentors. Whether in person or on Zoom, after work or during the lunch hour, our goal was to give you the opportunity to come together, ask questions and offer support to one...
Navigating Conversations About Racism with Your Mentee
As mentors, we might feel unsure of how to handle tough conversations when they arise. It is important to stay youth-led through every conversation. This allows us to focus on feelings and questions our mentee may be trying to understand. By focusing on the feelings,...
Internet Safety and Your Mentee
Online school assignments, perusing the internet, gaming and interacting with others through social media are daily, on-going practices for our youth. While parents and teachers are the first line of defense for educating them about internet safety, mentors can be an...
Navigating Tough Conversations
Has your mentee ever asked you a question or brought up a topic you found difficult to discuss? How prepared are you to have difficult conversations with your mentee? Topics like sex, politics, drugs or religion can be hard to talk about, especially with children....
Managing Stress
It seems like are constantly navigating extreme uncertainty. The hyper vigilance of staying safe, piloting constant change, and the effects of isolation and loneliness all take a toll. Fears and insecurity can create chronic stress which negatively impacts mental...
It’s Important
Given the significant social, environmental, and political events of the past year, it may feel like it’s more important now than ever to spend time with your mentee simply talking about their feelings to process all of the changes we’re experiencing. We always...
It Matters: Building Representation in Mentoring Relationships
On January 20, 2021, Kamala Harris was sworn in as Vice President, becoming the first woman, the first Black American, and the first South Asian American to hold the office. The importance of the moment was not lost – across social media, posts celebrating this...
Processing Racism-Related Trauma through Creative Expression
In the last few years, our country has begun confronting racism and racial injustice on a scale that we haven’t seen since the Civil Rights Movement of the late 1960s. Understanding the history, scope, and implications of systemic racism is a complicated undertaking...
Talking About Current Events
We carry so much every day, between health concerns, economic insecurities, and radical shifts in the way we interact with each other in our daily lives. The thought of trying to process any more events may feel overwhelming. As with any conversation you have with...
Fighting Racism Through Mindfulness
Jill Suttie of Greater Good Magazine, interviews Law Professor Rhonda Magee on how mindfulness-based awareness and compassion is key to racial justice work. For more than two decades Professor Rhonda Magee has worked to address issues of race, racism, and...
Somatic Experiencing and Mentoring
“The super-power of human kind is our capacity to connect; it is regulating, rewarding, and the major route by which we can teach, coach, parent, heal, mentor and learn.” Dr. Bruce Perry At Seedling we often refer to our mentors as having “super powers.” You have...
Talking about Incarceration
Have you ever considered what it might be like for your mentee to have communication with their incarcerated or deported parent? Maybe it is only through letters, an infrequent phone call, or on rare occasions talking on a phone while looking at one another...
Mentoring and the Art of Validation
"When little people are overwhelmed by big emotions, it is our job to share our calm, not join their chaos” -L.R. Knost As Seedling mentors, our goal is to be a trusted friend, boost our mentee’s positive self-esteem and safeguard their opportunity to thrive! We...
Talking With Your Mentee About Being Online
Mentoring provides you the unique opportunity to facilitate a conversation with your mentee about their online experiences. A conversation with your mentee doesn’t have to revolve exclusively around internet safety, but can also help them learn how to better navigate...
Encouraging a Growth Mindset
Mindset describes the way people view ability and talent. In her research and work on the mindset of psychological traits, Psychologist Carol S. Dweck identified 2 types of mindsets, fixed and growth. People with a fixed mindset believed their intelligence and...
Strategies For Engaging Your Mentee In Meaningful Discussion
How can I get my mentee to talk more? This thoughtful question asked by mentors is usually followed by recounts of open ended questions going unanswered, or mentees who don’t talk or look their mentor in the eye. It can be uncomfortable to sit in silence...
Mentoring & Social Justice
Seedling Mentoring is a journey that encourages persistence in acquiring new information and skills. Learning to promote social justice, to understand institutional oppression, and how to dismantle implicit biases and racism prepares mentors to be an upstander for...
Ten Characteristics of Flourishing (Mentoring) Relationships
It’s no secret that as we improve our mentoring skills, we enhance the other relationships in our lives. Whether we call ourselves parents, spouses, friends, or employees, improving in mentoring can enrich all of our relationships if we pay attention and transfer...
Solidifying Mentor & Mentee Connections
In the midst of the holiday season, mentors might wonder how the health of their relationships with their mentees may fair over the time that they don’t meet. Mentoring expert Jean Rhodes (2017) says that “it’s important to consider [a child’s] capacity for...
Attachment and Mentoring
Attachment is described by psychologists as an “enduring emotional bond that connects one person to another across time and space.” Though attachment is a term used mostly in infancy, its presence and importance can be seen throughout the lifespan. For children who...