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Some Kids Are Carrying More Than Just Backpacks This Year

Back-to-school season brings fresh notebooks, colorful backpacks, and the hopeful buzz of new beginnings. But for some kids, it brings something else entirely:

Fear.
Anxiety.
And the invisible weight of trauma.

For neurodivergent kids, the classroom can feel overwhelming from day one—too loud, too bright, too unpredictable.
For children growing up in homes touched by domestic violence, addiction, or instability, school isn’t a safe place—it’s a place they go while worrying whether home will be okay when they return.

Some kids—especially the deeply empathetic, sensitive ones—truly believe that their behavior might be the thing keeping the peace. They believe, in the quiet of their little hearts, that if they’re just good enough… no one will explode.

I know this not because I read it somewhere. But because I lived it.

I grew up in a toxic, abusive household.
And later, I found myself—despite my best intentions—raising my own children in a similar environment.
I’ve watched them navigate the world with labels like “neurodivergent,” when so many of their symptoms were really trauma’s echo.

So I created this not just as a resource—but as a promise.
A promise to my kids.
To the kid I used to be.
And to the cycle-breakers and caregivers like you.

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🌈 Introducing the

Brave & Ready: Big Feelings Toolkit (Back-to-School Edition)

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This printable toolkit is designed for kids ages 5–10 who are heading back to school with big emotions, heavy backpacks, and nervous systems on high alert.

Here’s what’s inside:
✅ Emotion Wheels & “Name It to Tame It” Worksheets
✅ Positive Affirmation Cards & Morning Mantras
✅ Coping Strategy Flipbook for School-Specific Feelings
✅ Gentle Back-to-School Anxiety Activities (new class, teacher, friends)
✅ Social Story Mini-Books for First-Day Jitters

Perfect for classrooms, therapy offices, homeschooling families—or quiet kitchen tables where the work of healing begins.

✨ And because this work is deeply personal, $1 from every single sale goes directly toward supporting families who are rebuilding after abuse, addiction, and trauma.

Because no child should carry the burden of their parent’s pain.
Because healing is possible.
And because it starts with one brave step—sometimes in the form of a printed page and a whispered, “You’re safe now.”

📥 Grab the Brave & Ready Toolkit here

And if you know a teacher, parent, or caregiver who might need this? Please pass it along. You never know who’s quietly searching for exactly this kind of support.

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P.S. This isn’t just a printable. It’s part of my personal mission to break the cycle.
To build a world where kids don’t have to shrink themselves to survive.
And where “back-to-school” doesn’t mean back to fear.

Thank you for being part of that mission with me.

With love,
Jessi

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