How Flicker Began

The Story Behind Flicker: How a Firefly Sparked a Mission to Teach Emotional Literacy

I didn’t set out to create a firefly.

I just wanted a way to help kids feel seen.
To help the little ones I teach and the ones I’m raising make sense of the swirls inside their chest.

Because if you’d asked me as a child what I was feeling?
I would’ve lied.

Or stared back blankly
Or shut all the way down.

The Story:
I grew up in a world where emotions weren’t just ignored—they were dangerous.
Big feelings and tears weren’t met with care.
They signaled weakness.
They could be manipulated.
Used against you by the very people you were supposed to trust.

So I learned early to armor up. To swallow feelings whole.
To be quiet, watchful, and compliant. To anticipate the next move before it happened; like a game of chess.

It wasn’t until I became pregnant—until I was carrying the next generation—that something cracked open.
The silence I’d grown up with, the emotional suppression I’d normalized…
Suddenly, it wasn’t just mine to carry.
If I didn’t learn how to name what I was feeling, I knew I’d pass the confusion down.
Not out of cruelty—but out of habit.
And I couldn’t let that happen.

I didn’t want my child to grow up afraid of their own feelings.
I wanted them to have language.
I wanted them to feel safe enough to cry—and brave enough to ask for help.
But first, I had to become the kind of adult who could hold those feelings with softness.
Who could name them.
Who could stay.

That’s when the spark for Flicker began.

The Spark of Flicker:

Growing up, there was one place where the chaos quieted.
One place where the tightness in my chest loosened just a little.

My grandparents'.

On summer nights, I’d sit outside and watch the fireflies dance across the pastures.
The air was warm and still.
The breeze felt like kindness against my skin.
And the crackle of a nearby fire was the only sound that didn’t make me flinch.

It was the one time I felt okay inside my body.
Like maybe peace wasn’t a myth.
Like maybe I wasn’t broken, just surrounded by too much noise to notice the light in me.

Years later, when I began searching for a way to help kids name their emotions…
that glow came back to me.

A flicker.

Not loud. Not flashy.

Just steady enough to remind me that even in darkness, light is possible.
And that became the heartbeat of everything I now create.

Why a Firefly:
Flicker isn’t loud or pushy.
They’re quiet. Gentle. Curious.
They glow in the dark—not to erase it, but to remind kids (and grown-ups) that even in hard moments, we’re not alone.

The world often teaches kids that emotions are messy. Inconvenient.
Flicker teaches them something else:
Your feelings matter. Your voice matters. You matter.

What Flicker Represents:
🧡 A safe space to be exactly as you are
🧡 A guide through the swirl of feelings
🧡 A reminder that connection can start with just one flicker

Flicker is the heart of everything I create—books, printables, blog posts, podcast episodes.
Because every tool I make is a love letter to the child I was, the children I’m raising, and the children you’re holding space for.

Takeaway:

You don’t have to be a perfect parent, therapist, or teacher.

You just have to be willing to sit with kids in their big feelings—and remind them that they’re not too much.
That’s what Flicker does.
That’s what you’re doing, too.

CTA:
🖍️ Want to meet Flicker and get your free printable Feelings Chart?
[Download the Firefly Feelings Kit here.]