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 have to say about what they got from the workshops below.
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 FOR FREE IN MARCH
Next month, Simon will be running one of his workshops completely FREE for parents and their children to come along to, at John Lewis in Leeds.
There are 15 tickets available for the event on Saturday 17th March from 10.00-11.00am but the spaces are filling fast, so Mumbler recommends you act quickly to secure a place. To book a FREE ticket for you and your child please click here. To see more about what Simon offers, visit the Children’s Happiness Coach website here