Let’s Make Our Programs Hella Inclusive!
announcements
It’s budgeting season! School and nonprofit leaders, many of y’all are working on your budgets for FY2026. If you’ve been thinking about having me work with your staff or parents, let’s chat so we can create the right line item for PD or Family Outreach. Email me at ed@villagewellparenting.com Here are a few of our great partners from this year!
Everything You Want to Know About Child Mental Health
Friday, May 2 at 12 PM PST
Free
May is the month of Mental Health Awareness, an important issue for our founder, Ed. Driven by his own family's journey, Ed is hosting a special Friday workshop featuring an expert child mental health clinician and a courageous young adult who shares her personal story of navigating mental health challenges during her teens. Have you ever wondered about depression, anxiety, or the impact of ADHD on mood? This is your opportunity to gain valuable insights and find support.
Are you a Foster Parent? I’ve partnered with BANANAS in Alameda County to offer a series of workshops/ support groups for you! These are online and anyone can sign up. The next workshop is April 17!
Are you in the Bay Area? Check out this event! I've partnered with NAMI and love what they do.
the heart of the matter
I had a pretty great childhood. We didn’t have a lot of money, but we had a house, food, and a strong community. I got scholarships to private schools where I was encouraged to try my passions. I got good grades and lots of positive feedback, especially for my writing. I had friends, I was good at sports. I was also a kid with big feelings and impulsive behaviors. I didn’t make life easy for my parents. When I felt angry, I would feel a surge rise up in me that I couldn’t control. I would scream and cry. Once my brother said something rude - I grabbed a rock and threw it, hitting him in the head and knocking him off his bike. Sadness, fear, and frustration were other emotions that could overwhelm me and catalyze acting out or paralysis. Even when I grew up and was able to control my responses much more, I often felt like there was something wrong with me – why would I get so upset? Why couldn’t I just be cool and focus on the issues logically?
I was diagnosed with ADHD three years ago. I learned that emotional overwhelm is a major issue for many of us with this condition. With the help of a great therapist/ executive coach, I learned to recognize overwhelm, name it, and put tactics in place to manage it.
A big part of my work now is supporting schools and nonprofits to support kids with disabilities. I help schools and programs shift the environment to support student success.
Say you have a student, Sammy, in your afterschool program who loves playing physical games at recess like four-square, tetherball, or tag. Sammy has low frustration tolerance and dysregulates when she is losing. She will lie, cheat, and argue, e.g. saying she tagged someone when she didn’t. Conflict shadows her, and other kids are starting to exclude her from their play.
This is where the ACEE framework comes in—Accessible, Cooperative, Empowering, Exciting. I pronounce it, “ace with two e’s”. It’s a tool I created to design environments where kids like Sammy are more likely to succeed, and where all kids get to show up fully as themselves.
Accessible means that all kids should be able to participate fully, regardless of ability, experience, or talent. It’s not enough to “let” kids like Sammy join the game. What's needed is thoughtful design. For example, you can modify a tag game so there are multiple ways to rejoin the game (e.g. doing a silly dance or answering a riddle - freeze tag is a great option). This reduces the emotional stakes of losing and give kids more ways to stay engaged.
Cooperative reminds us to shift from win/lose dynamics to shared goals. Competition rewards kids with natural abilities and inclinations, which often excludes kids with disabilities. But in a game where the group is working together to build a human obstacle course or complete a scavenger hunt, there's room for everyone to contribute something meaningful, without being sidelined or shamed.
Empowering means helping kids feel safe, included, and capable—even when they make mistakes. That might mean giving Sammy a role as the group’s “energy captain,” with a clear task of leading a cheer or helping reset the game. It also means making space for kids to process their emotions without punishment or exclusion. Sometimes empowerment looks like offering a five-minute cool-down zone, where a child can regroup and return with dignity.
Exciting invites us to replace the energy of competition with something just as fun: silliness, surprise, challenge, and celebration. Kids don’t need rivalry to feel joy. They need momentum, rhythm, and a reason to laugh together. When excitement is built into the design—through music, group chants, or creative twists—everyone has a reason to keep coming back.
When we design spaces with ACEE in mind, we’re not just helping kids with disabilities. We’re creating environments where all kids can express their full selves—emotions, quirks, gifts, and all. We’re saying: You belong here. You don’t have to hide your struggles to be accepted.
Let’s go back to Sammy. The traditional response to her dysregulation? Discipline, exclusion, or behavior charts. Let’s redesigned the environment instead.
Accessible: First, we make sure the game itself doesn’t revolve around speed, precision, or emotional restraint. Maybe it’s a modified game of tag where kids aren’t ever “out”—instead, they switch roles, or do a silly action to rejoin.
Cooperative: Instead of one winner and five losers, the whole group works together toward a shared goal—like collecting puzzle pieces hidden around the playground, or keeping a balloon in the air for 60 seconds.
Empowering: Sammy gets choices and roles that matter. She might help explain the game to others or be in charge of choosing the next challenge. We acknowledge her strengths—speed, enthusiasm, boldness—and help her learn strategies to manage big feelings when they come up.
Exciting: We make the activity feel electric, not just competitive. We add music, a countdown, silly costumes, cheers from the sideline. The goal isn’t to win—it’s to laugh, sweat, and celebrate together.
Is this a magic fix? Of course not. Sammy will still have hard moments. But instead of being “the problem,” she becomes part of a system designed to hold her, teach her, and let her shine.
That’s the heart of ACEE. We stop asking kids to shape themselves to fit rigid systems—and start shaping our environments to support the brilliant, messy, complex kids we actually have.
I’ve offered training on the ACEE framework to San Francisco DCYF, Community Youth Center, and Kids’ Country. Contact me if you’d like to learn about this at your school or program.
where we’ve been
Ed ran “How to Stay Calm When Your Kids Are Not” with a reminder that play is self-care. Check out this video of our parents playing “tap up”.
In partnership with BANANAS, we presented our most popular workshop "How To Stay Calm When Your Kids Are Not" for foster parents. Interested in joining? See the announcement at the top of this newsletter.
Our "Supporting Spirited Children" presentation at the Cross Cultural Family Center in San Francisco went great! We shared some practical tips on understanding and helping those wonderfully energetic kiddos, with a special focus on being culturally sensitive. The staff really appreciated the ideas on sensory needs, positive guidance, and building strong relationships.
We just wrapped up a fantastic "Special Time" workshop at FACES with a great group of dads! It was heartwarming to see them embrace the concept of carving out 15 minutes of dedicated, one-on-one "Special Time" with their kids each day. Check out this video. We also emphasized the importance of self-care, encouraging them to find 15 minutes of joyful time for themselves. The dads left with a renewed understanding of connection and the power of simple, focused attention.
Book a workshop for your school or organization.
Bring The Village Well to your school or organization. We provide powerful, interactive and fun workshops for parents and/or staff. Learn more.
Ed Center, the founder of The Village Well, is a parenting coach and educator certified in the Triple P method. The Village Well is a community of parents in BIPOC families, focused on attaining more joy, calm, and meaning in family life. We coach parents to prioritize their own healing and wellness, deepen connections with their kids, and learn tools to support better behavior. Services include Parenting workshops, Parenting courses, and community events. Our support is culturally-grounded support and honors your unique family. Ready to stop yelling? Schedule a free consultation with one of our team members.
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