KIDS MIND SKILLS
Empower yourself with Calm Mind Skills
Coaching, Counselling and Mindfulness for Children and Young People
Kids Coaching
“Everyone wants their kids to feel confident – to believe in themselves and to go for their dreams. We want the children to learn that confidence comes from within and is based on believing in themselves – knowing that what they say to themselves is more important than what anyone else says to them. If they think they can, they can!”
What is life coaching for kids?
Life Coaching is a form of support that is pro-active, solution focused and change based. It is practical and empowering for the child – building their self-awareness, and resources. Helping children and young people understand themselves better, identify issues of concern or goals they wish to reach and develop methods for managing their emotions.
Why would a kid need a life coach?
Life coaching (kids coaching) is a bridge between parent and child….helping the child to develop the skills necessary to overcome challenges and difficulties. It helps children develop confidence, resilience and emotional intelligence to cope with life’s ups and downs. Once they have this gift, it is a gift for life and one they can also keep topping up. It becomes part of who they are and helps them to develop into happy, confident, resilient young people. It is undoubtably life changing. We hope that by working together we can help support our children to reach their fullest potential and create happy fulfilling lives.
The range of difficulties that children face which can be helped by coaching is huge – a few examples of areas where it has helped include:
Anxiety, stress, bullying, low academic achievements, behavioural problems, sibling rivalry, fear of failure, managing disappointments, managing change, parents separating, moving schools/home, poor confidence, poor self esteem, friendship issues, anger management, relationship difficulties, ADD/ADHD.
Life Coaching is about supporting our kids in living their best life. A life coach helps kids develop the skills, confidence and an ability to thrive in life. When kids experience setbacks and disappointments in their lives, most kids don’t have the skills to handle them as a result they often get down on themselves or give up. Another challenge for kids is that they often feel like a victim in their lives – their parents tell them what to do, their teachers tell them what to do and even their coaches (!) tell them what to do….they are surrounded by adults telling them what to do.
Life Coaching incorporates ‘Mindset Training’ which is about using the power of your mind and your thoughts to develop the strong and healthy components of mental balance and stability. This kind of core strength gives you the power you need to act on what is in line with your innermost values and to enhance your self-awareness. This translates as helping children stay true to who they are without feeling the need to compromise or change who they are to fit in.
Coaching helps kids to be more empowered in their own lives so that can handle those ups and downs more effectively. Exploring self-responsibility which helps them to see that they have choices and can actually exert more control over their lives they may have first imagined.
Some topics explored in kids coaching include:
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Power of Possibility
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Power of self responsibility
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Self talk
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Self coaching
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Goal setting
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Overcoming mistakes
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Managing fear
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Moving past failure
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Managing change
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Choosing integrity
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How to make good decisions
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Standing up to peer pressure
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Conditional thinking
What kids can get from the coaching process:
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Self confidence
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Increased motivation
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Better relationships with peers, siblings, family and significant others
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Increased self-esteem
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Better understanding of themselves and their feelings
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Useful techniques for managing their emotions
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Increased level of understanding of self-responsibility and self-respect
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Improved focus and concentration
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Reduced worries and anxiety
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Positive self talk
Emotional Intelligence
What is emotional intelligence and why is it so important?
Why should we be teaching our children emotional intelligence?
Some of the key areas we focus on in building emotional intelligence include:
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Self awareness – knowing our emotions
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Self-regulation – being able to regulate and control how we reach to our emotions
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Internal motivation – having a sense of what’s important in life
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Empathy – understanding the emotions of others
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Social Skills – being able to build healthy social connections.
Research shows that students with higher emotional intelligence are better prepared to manage their emotional lives so that they can focus, learn and do their best in school. (Yale Centre for Emotional Intelligence).
We should never under-estimate the way our children understand the world. from a very young age. Their brains grow at such a rapid rate and they are constantly noticing, reacting and adapting to their environment based on their emotional experiences.
It poses the question…why do we put so much emphasis on teaching our children multiple academic subjects and day to day activities – yet, we neglect to give them an emotional education that can dramatically improve the quality of their lives?
When you teach kids emotional intelligence you teach them how to recognise their feelings, understand where they come from and learn how to deal with them. Ultimately teaching them the most essential skills for success in life.
Emotions matter for all of us and especially for children. How we feel affects our learning, the decisions we make, how we treat others and our own personal well-being.
Children who learn how to do this, have better results in school, increased attention and reduced anxiety and depression. Helping our children develop their own emotional intelligence, massively contributes to their individual success and well-being.
