At For Purpose Kids, we wear our hearts on our sleeves. Literally.
Leading with your heart is never easy, but it’s always worth it.
My Mom told me that she always worried about my heart getting broken when I was little, because I wore it on my sleeve. I think both my parents were concerned about that and tried to, from a place of love, toughen me up so that I’d be better prepared to deal with the real world. The problem was, those efforts made me question what I really felt, and ultimately, made me think something was wrong with me, because I felt so much MORE than others.
And I get it, because now I’m a Mom to a 6 year old who also wears his heart on his sleeve. It’s difficult, and often heartbreaking to watch him navigate life with his big feelings, the way I did. I want to rush in and try to protect him, and at times, “toughen” him up too. But I’m trying to resist that temptation, because I want him to connect to those feelings and learn that they’re a beautiful, and sort of superpower, part of who he is. Just like mine.
We all want to belong.
It’s a fundamental part of being human, and contributes much more to our feelings of security and safety than money, power or fame ever will, no matter how much society tries to convince us otherwise.
While working on “Our Story” for our updated website this past year, I came to the realization that…
…I didn’t feel like I belonged when I was young.
It wasn’t until I started traveling and being introduced to other cultures that I began to feel more “a part of”. It seemed that others outside of the US had some of the same questions I did, questions I often struggled to put into words and find understanding about here at home.
That’s why I’m committed to the work we do at FPK, because I want my son and the next generation to KNOW they belong.
I’ve been on this journey with FPK for almost 6 years, and it’s taken me and the team a while to get to where we are now. We’ve created a range of different products to teach kids and families about empathy, connection and belonging and inspire the next generation of global citizens. But it wasn’t until we brought the Global Kidizens to life that we knew we’d created the perfect way for For Purpose Kids to teach these skills in a unique and fun way. Using global cultures as the way to do this has always been a consistent thread throughout our entire journey, and that’s because I wanted to share with you and our community what best worked for me and so many members of our team. These dolls and stories are the culmination of all of our hard work and we’re not only excited, but confident in their ability to expand the hearts and minds of kids and families around the world.
Our focus for 2023 is to share with you openly and vulnerably about what we’ve learned along the way about building empathy, connection and belonging in ourselves and in our families with the Global Kidizens- and to invite you in to do the same.
We want this to be the year we THRIVE and we look forward to doing that with consistency, community, joy, wonder and commitment.
One of the questions we kept asking ourselves, over and over again over the past 6 years, was,
“Can we teach social/ emotional skills like empathy and belonging to the kids in our lives without embodying them in ourselves first?”
And while we had a *feeling* we knew what the answer was, we needed to find out for sure.
Through our many years of work, the honest answer to that question is “no.”
To truly teach these valuable social/ emotional skills to the kids in our lives, we need to learn them too. In fact, oftentimes our learning will happen right alongside them.
Is it hard? At times, the honest answer will be “yes.”
But here’s the good news- we’ll be here to support you and your kids in the process.
We’ve been hard at work over the past 2 years not only developing the Global Kidizens and their stories along with our Development Partners, but creating resources and fun ways to help you along the way.
See below for a couple ways we’ve come up with to get you started:
- 5 Tips to Build Empathy in Young Kids- click here to grab your free download that includes the best ways we’ve found to build these valuable life skills- and trust me, they’re fun!
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Our Facebook Community, “Where Conversations That Matter, Begin”- this a brave space for parents and caregivers to come together and learn, share and grow. Click here to join- we’re excited to welcome you in and meet you where you’re at.
If you have any questions about what we’ve shared and want to connect with us, please do so in our Facebook Community above. We truly want to cultivate a community where we all come together to support each other and share our experiences of making the world a more empathetic and loving place. We’re on this journey with you and we can’t wait to see what this year has in store.
Oh, and one more thing. You know we weren’t kidding about wearing our hearts on our sleeves here at FPK, right? All of Global Kidizen dolls have small knit hearts on their sleeves…yeah, we know, we think it’s pretty special too.
Misty Castañeda
Founder
Connecting Hearts Around the World through Play & Wonder
Our Commitment:
For Purpose Kids is committed to helping kids and families journey through a world of global cultures with diverse characters and imaginative stories that build empathy, connection, and belonging.
Our hand-knit, all natural cotton, fair trade Global Kidizen dolls and stories cultivate wonder and acceptance of others around the world by highlighting similarities and celebrating differences through play and storytelling in a unique and fun way.
