Impulse Intelligence & The Flickerlings

  The moment is where Impulse Intelligence begins.                                                                 There is actually a substantial body of children’s-literature scholarship examining something very close to what I’m seeing in these reviews: the tendency of adults to decide in advance what children can understand. One particularly interesting line of scholarship examines what has been called an “adultist” approach—the tendency for adults to theorize about children’s reading while paying insufficient attention to how children themselves actually respond to and make meaning from texts. That matters because adults don’t simply bring a book to a child. They bring assumptions about what a child should understand, how a children’s book should work, what constitutes an appropriate lesson, and how much interpreta...

  There is a fundamental conceptual collapse happening in some of the reviews of Rusty Ruins the Fort and Other Important Things : THIS is the  Impulse Intelligence proces s: emotion → emotional reaction → impulse → behavior THIS is the collapse : emotion = emotional reaction = impulse = behavior That is precisely the distinction the book is asking the reader to recognize. An emotion is not the same thing as the reaction it produces. An emotional reaction is not necessarily an impulse. An impulse is not the same thing as the behavior that ultimately follows. They can be connected without being identical. And once those distinctions are collapsed, the Flickerlings are easily misread. A reviewer sees an emotional event, sees a Flickerling respond, and concludes: Flickerling = emotion. But that isn’t the framework the book presents. The Flickerlings exist to make the activity occurring between an event and a person’s eventual behavior visible. They can represent thou...

Impulse Intelligence TM Challenges SEL Head-On Because of Its Deficiencies If SEL has recognized impulse control from the beginning, why hasn’t the field developed a more granular process for understanding what happens between emotion, impulse, and behavior? Not because SEL is trying to do something wrong. Because it is too simplistic. We have been looking at the wrong thing. SEL often starts with emotion and asks: “How do we manage this feeling?” Impulse Intelligence starts one step later and asks: “What is this feeling making me want to DO—and deeper still, why am I having the urge to do it?” That distinction changes everything. The Flickerlings process is: EVENT → EMOTION → FLICKERLING / REACTION → NAME THE IMPULSE → PAUSE → CHOOSE Because emotion isn’t behavior. Feeling angry isn’t the same thing as hitting someone. Feeling frustrated isn’t the same thing as yelling. Feeling afraid isn’t the same thing as running. The emotion happens. Then something wells up i...

  SNEAK PEEK TO A GREAT READ ALOUD: "And building a fort meant being prepared.Ethan carried a coil of rope from the garage slung over his shoulder and his mother’s small garden trowel tucked through his belt. It wasn’t much, but Ethan figured real builders always had tools. The rope could tie things. The trowel could dig holes for posts. That made it official. A few tiny Flickerlings buzzed awake around Ethan. These loudmouths of excitement showed up the moment a big idea took shape. Boast swelled with pride. “Look at that! Proper equipment! Clearly the mark of a great leader!” Punster slipped in, “Careful!with tools like that, we might actually dig ourselves into success!” The others groaned.When they were waiting for the rain to stop, each boy wrestled with choosing which of his treasures to bring to the fort. The plan was that the fort should protect real treasure." -RUST RUINS THE FORT AND OTHER IMPORTANT THINGS Look at what is happening here. Ethan has an event: the...

  Having read the book and having read the reviews, some of the reviewers are missing the entire point of the book. What is striking about these reviews is that several reviewers appear to have approached Rusty Ruins the Fort and Other Important Things with the very assumption the book is trying to crack open. One reviewer describes the Flickerlings as “feelings, thoughts, impulses” swirling around in the boys’ heads. That sentence exposes the problem. Feelings, thoughts, impulses, and reactions are being lumped together as though they are interchangeable. They aren’t. And that distinction is the point. A feeling or emotion is an affective experience. A thought is mental content—an idea, interpretation, memory, or prediction. An impulse is a push or urge toward an action. A reaction is what actually happens in response. These things can interact, but they are not one undifferentiated thing called “emotion.” The book is deliberately asking the reader to look more closely. ...

  If a reviewer writes about “feelings, thoughts, impulses” as though those are interchangeable categories, they’ve collapsed the very distinctions Rusty Ruins the Fort and Other Important Things is attempting to make. Those aren’t the same thing: Feeling/emotion: an affective experience. Thought: mental content—an idea, interpretation, memory, prediction, etc. Impulse: a push toward an action. Reaction: what actually happens in response—internally or behaviorally. And your whole premise depends on not treating those as one undifferentiated blob. So when the review describes the Flickerlings as: “the different feelings, thoughts, impulses we have swirling around in our head” that’s actually revealing something important. The reviewer has merged categories that your framework deliberately separates . They’re reading the book through the conventional assumption: everything happening inside us = feelings/emotions. Whereas your framework is trying to make the reader n...

But what if we’ve been lumping two different things together?  We all know that emotions affect behavior. But what if we’ve been lumping two different things together? Is an emotion the same thing as the reaction it produces? No. They’re not.                                                                                                                                             Emotion ≠ Reaction. Something happens. We feel an emotion. An impulse/urge to act on it appears. Then we choose what to do. Children already know what emotions and impulses are. What they may not have been taught is how to recognize/control the ...

  Impulse Control = Undervalued Cognitive Skill Impulse control is currently treated largely as a behavior-management skill —something children are expected to develop so they can behave appropriately, follow rules, control themselves, and avoid making bad choices. But impulse control is far more important than that. It is a foundational cognitive skill , and one that receives remarkably little direct, systematic training. Between what we feel and what we do is a critical moment. It can be a flash. A surge. An urge. An impulse. A reaction that appears almost before we have consciously decided anything at all. That is the moment that matters. The goal is not to teach children that emotions are bad or that they should simply “control their emotions.” Emotions are not behaviors , and emotions are not the problem. The critical question is: What happens after I feel something, but before I act? That is where impulse control lives. Emotion Is Not the Same as Reaction A...

  I’m astonished at the inability of some people associated with children’s books to accept a new concept—or perhaps even open their minds to one. I created Rusty Ruins the Fort and Other Important Things specifically to move children beyond the simplistic SEL “name the emotion” model and toward a much more important question: What happens between feeling and acting? The Flickerlings are not emotions. They represent the thoughts, urges, impulses, distractions, and reactions that can arise after an emotional experience and push us toward action. That distinction is the entire point. EVENT → EMOTION → REACTION → PAUSE → CHOICE This is a new way of looking at what happens inside a child before behavior occurs. It isn’t supposed to fit neatly into the traditional four-emotion framework. Sometimes a new concept requires us to stop trying to fit it into the categories we already know. That is exactly what I am asking readers to do.

  Author’s Note: A New Way of Looking at Reactions The Flickerlings were created to make something children experience every day—the moment between feeling something and reacting to it—visible and easier to talk about. The Flickerlings are aware of the boys long before the boys become aware of them, and that awareness develops gradually throughout the story. The cascade of thoughts, feelings, impulses, and distractions reflects the busy, darting quality of a young mind. It is meant to pull readers into that experience while keeping them engaged with the story. In this distracting age, this book isn’t trying to make a child’s mind behave like a traditional children’s book. It is trying to meet that mind where it is—darting, curious, impulsive, imaginative, and easily pulled in different directions—and give children a way to notice what is happening inside them before they react. The Flickerlings: A New Way of Looking at Reactions Rusty Ruins the Fort and Other Important Things ...

  MEET THE FLICKERLINGS, THE TEACHING TOOL OF IMPULSE INTELLIGENCE™

  “Something is trying to make me hit.” this idea changes the child’s relationship to the impulse. The child isn’t being told “control yourself.” They’re being taught to notice something that has appeared in their mind and examine what it is trying to get them to do.

  Impulse Intelligence™ The Flickerling‑Based Emotional‑Reaction Training Program Impulse Intelligence™ is an educational training program built on a breakthrough idea: every emotional impulse has a personality — and that personality can be taught, recognized, and managed. In this system, emotional reactions are personified as Flickerlings — tiny, chaotic, insistent creatures that represent the real internal impulses children experience. They don’t symbolize emotions. They symbolize reactions to emotions — the part that actually drives behavior Impulse Intelligence™ teaches students how to identify these reaction‑creatures, understand their motives, and choose which ones deserve control. ⭐ What Impulse Intelligence™ Teaches Participants learn a structured method for: Recognizing Flickerlings — noticing when a reaction‑creature “wakes up” Naming the reaction — giving each impulse a personality and purpose Mapping impulse chains — seeing how one reaction triggers another Inter...

  Impulse Intelligence: A Breakthrough Method for Impulse Pattern Recognition and Response A kid‑centered system that teaches children how to recognize their first impulses and choose their next action with confidence. Children experience powerful snap‑reactions long before they have the language or tools to understand them. Impulse Intelligence introduces a story‑driven educational method that helps kids identify these early emotional signals, recognize the patterns behind them, and practice healthier, more intentional responses. Through imaginative world‑building and character‑based modeling, the program transforms instinctive reactions into teachable moments, giving children a framework for understanding what their impulses are trying to do — and how to respond with clarity, agency, and self‑trust. This breakthrough approach blends creativity with emotional‑learning science to offer families and educators a fresh, accessible way to support children’s decision‑making skills.