Growing Stronger Roots for Life, Relationships and Families.
What we see on the surface is only part of the story. Water the Roots invites us to notice what may be happening beneath it—and tend to what helps children, adults, families, and relationships grow.
Our Mission
Water the Roots™ creates evidence-informed, nature-inspired, relationship-centered books, stories, and resources that invite children and adults to deepen understanding, nurture emotional growth and resilience, and cultivate meaningful connection with themselves and others throughout life.
Growth is shaped by more than what we can see.
Water the Roots™ is an evidence-informed, nature-inspired approach to understanding growth, resilience, relationships, and repair across the lifespan.
Difficult Moments. Big Feelings.
The Five Relational Nourishments offer a simple way to pause and consider what a person or relationship may need in a difficult moment. They are not steps to follow or a formula to complete. Think of them as questions nature helps us remember: What needs noticing? What needs to be seen more clearly? Is there enough safety? Is challenge needed? Is there something to repair?
Water the Roots. Tend with Care. Less to Repair. More to Bear.
From the Roots of the Philosophythrough the Stories of the Forest
Water the Roots™ is the larger philosophy: a way of looking beneath what we can see and tending the conditions that help people and relationships grow.
The Five Relational Nourishments give that philosophy memorable language drawn from nature.
Sprouting Strong Souls™ brings those same ideas into childhood through story. In Riverwoods Forest, children meet characters who worry, rush, struggle, misunderstand, repair, try again, and grow in relationship with one another.
The Philosophy gives us a way of seeing.
The Nourishments give us reminders for tending.
The Stories give children and adults a place to experience, explore, and practice those ideas.
Families
Practical ways to slow down, look beneath behavior, hold boundaries, and grow together.
Explore family resources →Children
Meet the Forest Friends of Riverwoods Forest and discover Sprouting Strong Souls™.
Enter Riverwoods Forest →Adults
Nature-inspired reflections and books for the continuing work of growing, relating, and repairing.
Explore adult resources →Five Soul Seeds for Your Family
Small moments of reflection can change what we notice, how we respond, and what we choose to tend.
Get 5 Free Soul Seeds Cards
These five free Soul Seeds offer simple, evidence-informed reflections designed to bring a little more calm, connection, and intention into everyday family life.
Get the 5 Free Soul Seeds Cards
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Created by Melissa R. Tower, MA, LLP
Psychotherapist Author Founder of Water the Roots™
Meet Melissa