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What would your child change if they had a magic wand?

What would they wish for?

What would they want the adults in their life to understand?

The Magic Wand Exercise is one of my favorite tools for helping children express thoughts, feelings, worries, hopes, and needs that can sometimes be difficult to put into words directly. This gentle, guided exercise invites children to use their imaginations to explore a wish, giving adults valuable information about their needs and emotions.

Consider it a magic trick grown-ups can use to connect with a child who feels unheard, misunderstood, or distant. Parents, caregivers, and professionals may also find this a valuable way to better understand a child's perspective and create opportunities for meaningful connection.

While this exercise appears in my workbook From Fear to Freedom about the social/emotional aspects of food allergy treatment decisions, it is not specific to food allergies and can be used by any child navigating challenges, changes, or big feelings.

Adults are encouraged to listen and engage with the child with curiosity rather than a desire to fix or solve. Sometimes the greatest gift we can offer a child is the experience of being seen, heard, and understood.

This guided exercise is suitable for children, families, therapists, educators, and anyone supporting a young person.

You can find the workbook this exercise is from here:
From Fear to Freedom: A Workbook for Navigating Allergy Immunotherapy
https://a.co/d/003saZ8p

Special thanks to Kyle Dine for permission to use his song The Doghouse for the podcast theme!
www.kyledine.com

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