About RecessPals

What it is

RecessPals helps a child who had a hard moment with a friend. Ridley the recess raccoon helps them find three reasons why it might have happened, size how big it felt, and pick one thing to try tomorrow. Then a bedtime card gives the grown-up two gentle questions and a floor-time idea.

Why three reasons

Around ages six to eight, children start to see that things happen for more than one reason. Thinking of three reasons makes a friendship problem smaller and more solvable — and none of the reasons say the child is bad.

What it is not

RecessPals is not for bullying that keeps happening. If a child is hurt or left out again and again, a grown-up at school needs to know.

Privacy

Everything happens on this device. There are no accounts, no ads, and no tracking. Nothing you choose or type is saved or sent anywhere — when you leave the page, it is gone, unless you printed your card.

A note for grown-ups

RecessPals is Developmental (FEDC-informed) — informed by the functional-emotional developmental-capacities tradition of thinking about individual differences and relationships. All the words here are our own; RecessPals is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, any organization or program in that tradition. It is a conversation starter, not an assessment, a diagnosis, or therapy.