Happier Childhoods
Happier Childhoods is a podcast for adults shaping childhood through movement, play, and connection.
Hosted by Carrie Speed of PlayMotion Kids, this show offers honest conversations and practical ideas for parents, teachers, childcare directors, social workers, caregivers, enrichment instructors, and child-focused professionals who want to support kids in meaningful, doable ways.
Each episode explores childhood wellbeing, child development, behavior, emotional regulation, resilience, sensory needs, trauma-informed care, play-based learning, mindfulness, movement, and the everyday science of connection.
You’ll hear conversations about what it really takes to help children feel safe, supported, and connected while also supporting the adults who care for them.
Carrie is a social worker and the founder of PlayMotion Kids, a movement, music, and mindfulness enrichment program for children. She also certifies and licenses instructors who want to bring movement, mindfulness, and whole-child learning to children in their own communities.
Because when adults are supported, equipped, and encouraged, happier childhoods become possible.
If you care about creating healthier, happier childhoods, you belong here.
www.playmotionkids.com
www.playmotionkids.com/businessowners
Happier Childhoods
EP 12: Why Play Matters: Healing Anxiety and Building Safety for Kids with Stacy Schaffer, MA, LPC
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In this conversation, Carrie sits down with Stacy Schaffer, MA, LPC — a children’s therapist, author, and advocate for emotional healing — to explore how play can become a bridge to safety, connection, and resilience.
Stacy shares her insights from over 20 years of experience in child and adolescent therapy, explaining how play therapy helps kids process big emotions, and why understanding anxiety through a child’s eyes is so powerful.
Together, they discuss how adults can help kids look for signs of safety, how to heal shame, and what happens when we don’t tend to our own emotional “cuts.” This conversation serves as a reminder that play isn’t just for children; it’s a pathway for all of us to heal.
💛 Topics include:
• The therapeutic power of play
• Helping kids understand anxiety
• Healing shame in adults and children
• The importance of therapist self-care and secondhand trauma
• Creating safety through connection
🎙️ Learn more about Stacy at authorstacyschaffer.com
and follow her on Instagram @hoperestored.
🌿 Hosted by Carrie Speed — Social Worker & Founder of PlayMotion Kids
FB & IG: playmotionkids
Website: www.playmotionkids.com
Want to bring movement, music, and mindfulness to parents and children in your community? Learn more at www.playmotionkids.com/businessowners
IG: better.childhood.project