According to new research, conducted by the UK’s first Children’s Happiness Coach, Simon Benn, our children’s happiness is actually our number one fear. Ranking above their attitude to learning, their academic achievements and even bullying. And it’s no wonder we agonise over their happiness either, given that 1.5 million children in the UK were bullied last year, 68% felt pressured before their SATs exams and 1 in 10 suffer from mental health problems such as anxiety, depression and self-harm. 50% of adult mental health issues start before the age of 14. So what’s the government doing? Not a lot. The average primary school only receives a half days training a year on how to support children’s mental health
As adults, we’re often left feeling helpless against these situations. We’d crawl over hot coals to swap places with our kids and make them instantly happy. But the reality is, we’ll never be there every hour of the day to hold a hand, ease exam nerves or tell them how to react to unkind words.
But one thing as parents that we can do, is help our children learn their own ways to manage their happiness, confidence and resilience. Most parents would far rather prevent mental illness than wait for niggles about a child’s low confidence or concerns about friendship issues escalating in to something more.
Which is why Simon has spent many years using his coaching experience to develop a toolkit to help kids be happier, more confident and resilient to bullying. Which he delivers through fun, engaging workshops for 7-11 year olds.
The workshops are based on The Juicer – a metaphor for how feelings come from thoughts, like juice comes from fruit.
Simon says of his workshops “Children learn best through play. Playing games about The Juicer mindset tool helps them learn how to feel good, change their mood if they’re feeling down and stop others upsetting them. It’s fun, not therapy. As ten-year old Sophie put it ‘I love putting happy apples into my Juicer because happy apple juice makes me happy. I shut the lid to stop bullies putting nasty nectarines into my head. Simples.’ Providing our kids with the power to be happy, confident and resilient to bullies is an essential life skill that will support them through their adult life. Prevention is better than cure.”
See what some of the kids and parents have to say about what they got from the workshops below.
Review from a parent who attended a workshop with her child
“I didn’t have concerns of bullying and my son is a happy 7-year-old without a care in the world, so why did I think it was important to do this session with him? The answer is simple, life is full of ups and downs, it’s a fact, but if I can give anything to my boy it would be the empowerment to tackle what comes his way with positivity and confidence.
I hadn’t realised how shy my son felt when he was with people he didn’t know… that was an eye opener for me. He always comes across as happy and confident. Simon has a great gift of being able to connect with children and soon had him smiling and feeling more relaxed. Learning about happy thoughts and how to use the juicer to keep in the happy apples and keep out the sad strawberries enlightened us both on how we can choose different feelings. In just 1-hour Simon was able to make a huge difference.”
In the last 4 years, Simon’s fun and exciting approach to coaching has already helped over 1,000 youngsters aged seven to 11 be happier, more confident and resilient to bullying. Amazingly at the end of one of his sessions over 90% of children say they can change how they feel more easily and are more resilient to bullying.
JOIN ONE OF SIMON’S WORKSHOPS IN LEEDS AND HARROGATE
Saturday 12th May, West Park Hotel, Harrogate
Saturday 19th May, Webinar, West Park Hotel, Harrogate
Saturday 26th May, Community Hub, John Lewis, Leeds
Saturday 30th June, West Park Hotel, Harrogate
For more details on all the above events and to book on click here.
