Taking Care – of Ourselves
Thanks for joining us!
This episode was written by Kara and voiced by Kara and T.
Episode art was drawn by Jean.
It was originally released in March 2025.
— Check out these books about feelings, gratitude,
and taking care of ourselves —
Click on each photo for a link to the book on our Bookshop.org account
Celebrate being yourself and trying new things
with these songs on our Spotify playlist
— Noticing Beautiful Things —
Found a line of beautiful shells displayed proudly on a front fence on a neighborhood walk
A monarch butterfly soars over the buildings in San Francisco
Huge morning dew droplets stopped us in our tracks on the walk to school
— Taking Care of Ourselves Episode Summary —
Human beings are amazing —
Being a human is amazing – we can do so much!
We have these bodies that get us around, help us jump and twirl and climb.
And we have these minds that come with so many thoughts and feelings.
You are your own self. You are unique. There is no one else like you.
And so we need make sure that we take care of ourselves!
Taking care of ourselves includes taking care of our bodies —
Grownups help kids remember what to do because it’s our job to take care of you, and help you learn to take care of yourself.
Human beings have many body parts! Outside one that we can see, like head, shoulders, knees, toes. And inside ones like our bones, muscles, lungs, and heart!
People can use things to help with our bodies. To move around, we can use things like a cane, crutches, a walker to lean on, or a wheelchair to sit in.
At any age, people can get help to hear with hearing aids and help to see from glasses.
If we get a cut or scrape, we need to take care by cleaning it and putting a bandage on it.
And if we get sick, we need to tell a grownup about our symptoms! Things like a headache, body aches, sore throat, upset tummy. They may be able to give you medicine to help or take you to see a doctor.
We also need to take care of our bodies by doing this every day, like brushing our teeth, taking care of our hair, changing our clothes, and cleaning our bodies.
We MUST wash our hands well! That means especially when we’re back from places like the park and after we use the bathroom, and for at least 20 seconds.
Humans need to make sure we have enough water and food. It’s especially awesome if you can eat a variety of fruits and vegetables. Have you ever tried to eat a rainbow of fruits and veggies?
We know that taste buds can change, so it’s ok if you don’t like to eat everything! But trying new things once in a while helps you find new foods that you DO like!
At the end of the day, we need to make sure we rest and get enough sleep! If you have a hard time falling asleep, you can do things to help yourself, like telling yourself a story, thinking of everything you did that day, or counting all the way from 1 to 100.
It’s really cool to learn about yourself and your body. What feels awesome to you might not feel great for someone else. Some people love to be in water and splash, some don’t! Some love being high off the ground, some hate it. That’s ok! You’re in charge keeping your body safe and happy.
Paying attention to your thoughts and feelings is also important! —
There’s a part of our bodies that controls our thoughts and feelings, our brain!
But feelings are mysterious things. They can’t always be controlled or understood.
It’s a lot to be alive. It’s incredible, and there’s a lot to manage. And it means that we feel a lot throughout the day. You might feel grumpy when you wake up, then happy to have a yummy breakfast, then upset that your favorite clothes aren’t clean. Sometimes, we even have more than one feeling at once!
Feelings can’t be wrong. You feel what you feel.
Sometimes we have a feeling, and we’re able to live with it while going about our lives. Other times, though, people can have some big feelings. Those feelings are so intense that it stops us from doing other things. This can be hard, but it’s ok.
While it is ok to feel what you feel, it is not ok to be unsafe with what you do. Even if you are really angry, it is not ok to hurt things or other people. So we grownups try to find ways to help you handle the feelings. And to handle our own feelings!
In order to move through it, sometimes people will do things like… big breaths, rainbow breaths, taking yourself to a quiet place that feels peaceful, have something nearby that you like to touch, that calms you down.
It can be hard to know what to do, and grownups want to help you through them. Sometimes it can’t be explained in the moment, but you can talk about what you felt afterwards, once the bigness has passed. It helps to share what you’re feeling.
Our minds are powerful and we can be thoughtful about the things we think —
Our minds, and the things we think to ourselves, are powerful things! Some people believe, and I'm kind of one of those people, that if we think things over and over again, they can become true. Not everything, of course, not like- “I will have a pet horse! Or, I will live on the moon!” But more like things you think about yourself. “I am strong. I am kind”.
And so, folks will think of a word or group of words to say to themselves often. They say it quietly in their minds, or out loud to themselves. The words can help remind us of important things. Things like - “I am smart, I am brave, I will be a good friend.”
It’s important that we think about the kind of people we want to be. I often think about how I want to be Caring. Helpful to others. Not afraid to try something new. And then, we can be proud of ourselves when we do something awesome, like help a friend, do a great handstand, read a whole sentence, or try a new food. And you know, it can be so fun to show people this awesome thing. But even if no one else sees it, you know that you did it!
Another thing our family tries to do is to notice wonderful things in the world. Just the other day on our walk to school, T showed me this beautiful leaf that had dew droplets on it - they looked like little diamonds! We’ll point out when we really love someone’s outfit. Or, when the light shines through the crystal in our window, it makes rainbows all around the living room!
Noticing and sharing these things helps us feel gratitude – to be grateful, or thankful, for things in our lives. In fact, at the end of our day, we’ll each say one thing that we’re thankful for. It could be anything!
Playing the ‘Rose Bud Thorn’ game with your family is a fun way to think about what you’re grateful for, and how you feel about your day. Try it at dinner soon!
Knowing your personal information, like your name, address, and grownup’s phone number —
We have our own bodies, we have our own minds, what else do we have that makes each of us unique? Our names!
Most of us have a first name and a last name. Some have a middle name! Some have two last names. Friends, do you know your whole name? Do you know your grownups’ whole names, first and last?
Names are pretty special – I’ve never met another person with my exact first, middle and last name. And names are part of our personal information - things that help us and other people know who we are.
When you’re ready, you can learn your address. The place where your home is. In the United States, we usually sort out our addresses by talking about a whole bunch of information in a certain order. We usually start with the number of a building, the street it’s on, the unit/apartment number in that building, then the town, then the state. So for, for example…An address could be... 6 Elm Street, Apt 12, Oakland, California.
Another piece of personal information, and maybe the trickiest one, is phone numbers! I bet you rarely push numbers when you call someone - on most phones these days we just press a little picture of someone on a screen. But those phones that grownups have, that they use for all kinds of things, well each one has a different phone number! And you could remember/learn your grownup’s phone number! There’s a trick where you can sing it to the tune of mary had a little lamb - so for example, if your mom’s phone number is 650-724-3231, you could sing it.
Friends, have you and your grownups ever talked about what to do if you’re separated from each other? That almost never happens, but sometimes kids can get lost from their grownups, especially in places with a lot of other people, like sports games or airports or busy stores.
Each family should talk about it, and make their own plan for what to do, but one of the things I’ll share with you is that we’ve asked T, if she ever gets lost to STAY PUT. People may want to run around to find each other, but if you’re running one way, and the grownup is running the other way, you may just run around and around! If one person says where they are, they can be found much faster.