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....
How to Be An Ally – Training Recap
As mentors, we are often matched with mentees who have different lived experiences than our own. By using empathy and youth-centered approaches to mentoring, we can build our allyship skills. To do this, we must first understand what it means to be an ally. It’s...
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...
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...
The Seedling Mentor Portal
Using the Mentor Portal is a requirement for mentoring with Seedling. Your Mentor Director sent you a link when you had your first visit. If you no longer have the link, simply ask your Mentor Director to resend it to you; they’ll be happy to do so. You can sign in...
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...
Developmental Characteristics of Nineteen to Twenty-One Years Old (Young Adults)
Developmental Themes During this stage of life, young adults further develop their critical thinking skills, form relationships based on shared values and belief systems, modify their risk taking behaviors and make decisions based on future consequences. As mature...
A Primer on Pronouns and Gender Identity
More youth are identifying as part of the LGBTQ+ community than ever before in American history. A recent study found that as many as 1 in 4 young people identify as “nonbinary”, meaning outside of male or female. Additionally, 1 in 5 young...
Managing Stress
For over a year now, we have been navigating extreme uncertainty. The hyper vigilance of staying safe, piloting constant change, and the effects of isolation and loneliness, have taken a toll. Fears and insecurity can create chronic stress which negatively impacts...
Where Do We Go From Here?
As vaccines become more available and the world takes a few shy steps towards normalcy, we can’t help but think: “where do we go from here?” What has this past year meant for our mentees? And how do we move forward? Below are thoughts to consider as you begin thinking...
Transitions: Tips for Mentors
In a normal school year, transitioning to a new school (such as Elementary to Middle or Middle to High school) can be daunting. COVID has only compounded anxiety about any changes, and that’s before considering things like returning to full classrooms. Many of our...
Thinking Ahead
As the Spring semester marches on, we can probably all agree that this school year has been like no other. Most kids have not stepped foot into the classroom and will likely end the school year remotely. Where does that leave us for the 2021-2022 school...
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...
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...
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...
Ready, Set, Goals!
It is heartwarming to finally reconnect with our mentees this school year. The feeling that bubbles up when we see their name appear in the waiting room is nothing short of delightful. Seeing their face and hearing how they are doing feels like...
Talking About Current Events
We’ve all been shaken by the acts of violence that took place this week in Washington D.C. and at several state capitals across the nation. The violent actions have left a significant impact on us as a nation and as individuals and may lead to conversations...
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...
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...
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...
The Holidays and Practicing Gratitude
Navigating the holidays in a mentoring relationship can be tricky. As Seedling mentors, we are sensitive to the fact that some households may not celebrate holidays we hold dear. This reality might be due to religious practice, financial distress or family strife. The...
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!...
Politics Anyone?
Presidential elections always come with a bit of apprehension, but this year’s upcoming election carries significantly more heated rhetoric and tension. In recent years, psychologists and child experts have repeatedly documented how political discourse has had a...
Talking With Your Mentee About Being Online
Mentoring online provides you the unique opportunity to reconnect with your mentee virtually, but also to facilitate a conversation with them about their online experiences. A conversation with your mentee doesn’t have to revolve exclusively around internet safety,...
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...
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...
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...