Why I Couldn't Just Leave This Alone
I’ve always loved kids. The way they ask the biggest questions out of nowhere, how they feel everything so deeply, the wonder in how they see the world. Especially my little nephews — spending time with them is one of my favorite things in the world.
But as I spent more time around them and other kids in my family, I started noticing something I couldn’t unsee.
Where It All Began
With family everywhere from Germany to Australia, and friends scattered across more countries than I can count, I kept seeing the same thing: kids melting down, parents scrambling, everyone just… winging it. Different languages, same exhausted sighs.
When big feelings hit — meltdowns, shutdowns, tears over the wrong cup — some kids had a way back to calm. Others unraveled.
Same age. Same situations. Completely different outcomes.
And it took me straight back to my own childhood.
I didn’t have any tools for handling emotions. No one taught me how to work through anger, or what to do when I felt overwhelmed. I had to piece it together the long, hard way — and even then, it took years.
Now I was watching the kids I love go through the same thing.
The difference wasn’t the kid.
It wasn’t discipline.
It was whether the adult had the tools — to stay calm, to co-regulate, to respond with something more than frustration.
And that’s when it hit me:
If we don’t give kids a way to handle emotions, how would they ever know?
And if we never had those tools ourselves… how could we possibly pass them on?
Why I Couldn't Just Leave This Alone
Once you see a gap that big, you can’t unsee it.
I kept replaying it in my head — how different my own life might have been if someone had handed me a tool like this when I was little. How much sooner I might have learned to work through feelings instead of stuffing them down or letting them explode.
And then I’d picture the kids I love, growing up without it, trying to patch it together the same way I did.
It didn’t sit right.
I didn’t want this to just be another “someone should do something about that” moment.
So I decided to be the someone.
Not to write another parenting book that sits on a shelf.
Not to create a system that takes hours to learn.
But to make something you could grab in the middle of the storm — and actually use.
That’s why Trailies exists.
Trailies. Like we’re laying down a trail for our kids to follow — one we never had. Not blazing some perfect path (who has time for that?), but just… creating little stepping stones through the emotional chaos. Trail + families = Trailies. Simple. Like everything else we make.
How This Whole Thing Actually Started
I didn’t sit down with a grand plan or a business strategy.
I just wanted to see if I could make the thing I’d been wishing for — the tool I wish someone had handed me when I was a kid, and that I wish the kids I love had right now.
It started as a few rough sketches for a simple set of cards:
Help kids name their big feelings.
Give adults the words to guide them through it.
Offer something to do when emotions boil over.
No theory. No 12-step process. Just something that could work in the middle of real-life chaos.
I tested it out. Parents used it. They passed it to friends. Then those friends passed it on again.
And suddenly, people I’d never met were asking, “Where can I get this?”
That’s when it clicked — this wasn’t just my idea anymore.
It was something families everywhere had been needing, and they were tired of trying to patch it together on their own.
So I got serious.
FROM ONE TOOL TO A MOVEMENT
I’m not a parenting expert. I’m not a teacher. I’m not a therapist. I was running another business, living my life, but I couldn’t shake this idea. So I did what any slightly obsessive person would do — got certifications from universities, researched until my brain hurt, and found the actual experts who’d been doing this work for years.
Therapists who help families navigate emotional storms every single day.
Teachers who’ve weathered 25 meltdowns before lunch.
Parents who’ve tried everything, and were desperate for something that actually worked.
Together, we started building what had been missing all along:
✋ Not more advice that sounds good but is impossible in real life.
✋ Not more guilt disguised as guidance.
✅ Simple tools that work at 7:32 AM, when your kid is sobbing over cereal and your own nervous system is hanging by a thread.
Here’s the truth:
Most of us never learned these skills ourselves. We’re all winging it, hoping love will somehow be enough to figure it out on the fly.
But kids deserve more than crossed fingers.
They deserve grown-ups who know what to do when emotions run high.
And we deserve to feel like we’re actually equipped for this — not like we’re failing at something we were never taught.
The skills most of us missed growing up?
How to handle big emotions
How to solve problems without shouting
How to bounce back
How to feel supported, seen, and strong
Trailies was never about becoming an “expert” or writing the perfect manual.
It’s about making sure every family has access to tools that actually work — in real time, in real life — so we can all stop feeling like we’re failing, and start feeling like we’re in this together.
Where We’re Headed
💞 Our Mission
Every family deserves something to reach for when everything’s falling apart.
🌱 Our Vision
A world where emotional skills are taught as early as ABCs — and stick just as deeply.
What We Stand For
Science-Backed
Everything we make is rooted in real research — from PCIT to trauma-aware frameworks. But we translate it for real-life chaos, not clinical conditions.
Kid-First
If kids don’t want to use it, it’s gone. No boring charts pretending to be fun.
Radical Empathy
Made for the 7:30 AM meltdown — not for parenting perfection.
Give-Forward
Every purchase funds free tools for a family who needs it. Because calm shouldn't be a luxury.
IMPACT SNAPSHOT
Since launch, Trailies has reached
26,000+
Families
50 + 36
U.S. states + countries
100s
classrooms, clinics, & counseling rooms
decks donated to families & educators who needed them most
What We Stand For
Science-Backed
Everything we make is rooted in real research — from PCIT to trauma-aware frameworks. But we translate it for real-life chaos, not clinical conditions.
Kid-First
If kids don’t want to use it, it’s gone. No boring charts pretending to be fun.
Radical Empathy
Made for the 7:30 AM meltdown — not for parenting perfection.
Give-Forward
Every purchase funds free tools for a family who needs it. Because calm shouldn't be a luxury.
WHO WE ARE
Final Words
Because tools aren’t just for kids.
They’re for the grown-ups who are still learning how to stay calm when their own inner 4-year-old wants to scream.
Trailies is for families who are trying — imperfectly, beautifully — to figure it out together.