Letter from Tara

Bright Littles was built when I, a full-time mother and entrepreneur, realized I didn’t have the age-appropriate tools to navigate challenging conversations with my daughter. The reality of having “tough” conversations hit me one afternoon when I was sitting at a red light with my daughter, Poppy, in the back seat….

As we pulled up to the stoplight, a homeless man was standing on the side of the road holding a sign. My then four-year-old daughter asked, “mommy, what does the sign say?” Thoughts raced through my head as I scrambled to figure out what to say as I measured truth on an imaginary scale of what was age-appropriate. What can she handle? I replied sheepishly, “have a nice day” and turned her way with a huge, beaming smile that was less of a smile and more of “did she buy it?” My lie was met with my daughter’s fierce and wise reply, “mommy, what does it really say?” 

I replied “you are right, honey. The sign says, ‘anything helps,’” to which she replied, “why don’t we help, mommy?” Tears welled up in my eyes as I repeated the question internally as if to ask myself: “why don’t we help, mommy?”  

My entire way of parenting changed in a split second. I realized my job is not to protect her from the world, but rather prepare her for the world and set her up with the tools to make a positive impact in it. 

The light at the intersection turned green, not only for us to drive forward, but as a “green light” to start real conversations. Instead of talking about what snacks she ate at school or if she played on the swing, we discussed ways we could do anything to help others in our community and at home as we drove home that day. 

From social and racial injustices to a global pandemic, health, safety and more - there are so many topics that seem too big for our children’s little world. It can sometimes seem impossible to delicately approach these topics with them, but the truth is, kids are ready to dive into these types of conversations sooner than you think.

I felt called to action at that moment in the car to create a mindful tool that would spark “outside the box”, impactful conversations between parent and child that will empower both the parent and the child to learn and grow together. By creating a fun and engaging way to present these topics, we’ve made learning about the tough stuff, easy again!