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...
Essential Listening Tips
Develop the desire to listen. Really listening to someone is a wonderful gift to give. Let the other person do most of the talking. Applying the 70/30 rule ensures this will happen. You listen 70% of the time and you talk 30%. Avoid...
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...
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,...
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....
Setting Goals in Mentoring
Have you ever created a goal you wanted to achieve while mentoring? You may have a goal to remember your mentee’s birthday, or to show up to your visits earlier, you may even want to make a goal with your mentee for this school year. Whatever your goal may be, putting...
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...
Reconnections
Your Impact on your mentee is bigger than you think! They still giggle when they think of that funny thing you said, still smile when they think of the compliment you gave them. Your impact has made them think twice, your support has made their day! Your impact makes...
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...
Mentor Tested, Kid Approved!
Mentors may struggle from time to time with conversation, meaningful interaction, or even sustained eye contact with their mentee. When mentoring is a challenge, remembering to use creativity and having a few simple activities to pull out of your pocket can help! We...
Mentoring and Beautiful Questions
Listening is an essential skill in mentoring. It provides a safe space and the attention needed to convey validation and worth. Oftentimes mentors also have the opportunity to problem-solve with their mentee. To be successful we must be prepared to ask the right...
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...
Talking To Mentees About Politics
In today’s political climate, mentors might be wondering if talking about politics with their mentee is a good idea. Let’s face it, we may have reservations about discussing politics, considering the difficulty in even bringing it up, or the fear of not explaining how...
Six Ways To Positively Respond To Youth
March for Our Lives, on March 24, 2018, was one of the biggest youth protests since the Vietnam War. On June 30, 2018, more than 600 marches occurred throughout the country protesting the separation of immigrant families entering the U.S. We are seeing more and more...