My heart cries for the families who have lost their precious children in the recent mass Texas school shooting. Also for the families of the two teachers who lost their lives protecting the children in their care.

I am left with two main questions (and many more...)

1. Is this a gun problem?

Or

2. Is this a mental health issue?

I have read numerous news reports and of course they are always biased towards holding the government accountable for passing new more stringent gun laws to prevent this from happening again.

I agree.

Something has to be done at a higher level. This is a policy problem but is this about guns?

Or is this about ACE scores?

ACE stands for Adverse Childhood Experiences and a large scale research study way back in 1995 identified that toxic stress can alter how our DNA functions, and how that can be passed on from generation to generation.The study was one of the largest investigations of childhood abuse and neglect and household challenges and the impact on...

Building resilience, leadership and mindset in children as a Kids Life Coach is my super power!

I love the topic of peak performance in children and can speak on it all day long!! I so admire how many parents are raising super resilient kids...what I have found is that tough situations can always be overcome if you are willing to accept the need to adapt and change.

I see the parents who face challenges head on doing one or more of these things....They have: 

✨a sense of connection and understand the value of the concept that it takes a village to raise a child,

✨a solid foundation of spirituality and their values are intact and their children have empathy and a servant attitude as a consequence,

✨ a great optimistic attitude and they are an awesome role model that walks the walk and talks the talk with their own positive mindset towards life!!

How blessed am I to know so many parents getting it right!!! Much gratitude for the lessons they have shown me in my resilience research ...

Have you heard of life coaching for children? As the founder of The Kids Life coach Academy online school, I have had the privilege of speaking to professionals in over 60 countries who decide to pursue a career as a certified Kids Life Coach.

When we first talk...They all say the same thing….

“Why don’t more people know about this?”

They always tell me that they wish they had a life coach growing up. They also always say that the problems in childhood are increasing and the current infrastructure can’t cope.

They always say that their country is behind and hasn't yet fully embraced mental health support in schools. They tell me all about the problems children in their country are facing. Yet...no matter where they are located...whether in Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, China or the USA...or any of the other countries in the world...

...The thing is…

The statistics are the same EVERYWHERE in the world. Self harm and suicide are increasing. Mental health is declining and children are und...

Recently, one of our students showed such courage! She posted on our support forum about how she was finding that procrastination was standing in the way of her completing her training.  Despite wanting to move forward, she felt stuck! 

This is a common problem that many of our students have reported to us. However I want to reassure you that many of our students also push through and manage to finish within the allocated time frame for their Kids Life Coach Certification.

There is a lot of work to do in our training since we believe in doing things properly. This work takes discipline and what we have found is that the students who complete within a good time frame have these 10 things in common:

1. From day 1 they make an effort to attend our twice weekly mentorship sessions. If they can’t make it they watch the catch up recordings.

2. They pair up with at least one study buddy on the same journey and do weekly checkins.

3. They manage their diary and plan out their time realist...

Have you ever had one of those days where something happens to remind you about your big WHY? An unexpected little 'gift' comes your way that confirms you are on the right track?

Well today was one of those days.

So before I tell you what happened, let me give you a little bit of context.

Usually just before my birthday on 2 April, I engage in a time of reflection and recalibration. So, just over a week ago today, I pressed pause and I went away to the Midlands in England for two days, for a personal planning and strategy session. 

It is usually at this time that I stop all "urgent" items on my to-do list and I play and dream a little.  Usually when I do this...my mind is free to think out of the box and it was then that I had an epiphany - as I usually do when I press pause and play!

I realised that it has been literally almost three years since I have run a face to face Kids Life Coach retreat. I also realised just how much I have missed it! I realised that I was stuck in fear m...

When I first started coaching children full-time in 2005, I had left my career as a teacher in a reputable private school to pursue my passion of being a children's change maker. I had just completed my Honours Degree in Psychology of Education and I was lecturing Bachelor of Education (teaching) students part-time. 

At the time, I didn't officially call myself a Kids Life Coach. 

Why?

Well for 3 reasons:

1. The field was relatively unknown and I preferred to position myself as a well-educated academic and not a certified life coach because of the stigma associated with life coaching.

2. I came from a counsellling background and I was using a hybrid blend of therapy and skills training to support children who were struggling with a variety of everyday life challenges.

3. I wasn't trained as an accredited life coach since when I explored this option, there were no training providers specializing in children. 

In 2009, when I started first training professionals to use my system t...

Do you get targeted Facebook advert feeds related to growing your coaching practice?

When I was a novice I listened to everybody else and it was the biggest mistake I made…

I neglected my own inner intuition.
I stopped listening to my inner voice that had the answers.

So I decided to write this blog to share my experiences and to say be careful….

If anybody offers you a 5 day challenge to grow your “coach list” or a “marketing challenge” to increase your sales…And they are a coach.  My question is why aren’t they coaching??? 🤪 Why are they selling their “best kept secrets” to making money as a coach.

As a Kids Life Coach you will grow your practice through one thing only....RESULTS!

Word of mouth and referrals are your strongest allies!! That’s why with our robust play based coaching system that assesses pre and post coaching results….you are guaranteed of repeat business!

Our most successful Kids Life Coaches are those who believe in themselves and our coaching programme!! They...

I love sharing time in our Teaching Tuesday mindset mentorship calls and Thinking Thursday Peer Supervision calls with our students and certified Kids Life Coaches!!

I have noticed that those who excel as coaches are dedicated to shaping their thinking by surrounding themselves with likeminded people.

Recently in one of our Tuesday mentorship sessions, I shared on the topic of “Cheating your way through life.

I asked attendees:

"Are you doing this one thing?”

Many of them didn't even know that they were actually holding themselves back from being a world-class Kids Life Coach….

I spoke about just this ONE thing!!!! As you're reading this...You probably don’t even realise you may ALSO be doing it!! Even if you aren't part of our team and getting peer to peer supervision and mentorship....You need to know this!

I used to do it….when I first started my career as a Kids Life Coach in 2003….but now I know better….

So can you guess what this one thing is? 

Guessed yet?

It's making ...

Last year I did my dissertation research on mental well-being during Covid for my Masters Degree in Clinical Child Psychology.

I interviewed 12-year olds around the world…asking them who and what was the most helpful to them during Covid. All of them shared ONE thing in common…

CONNECTION

👍They enjoyed time playing board games with their siblings and parents.

👍They valued shared time cooking family meals together or for each other.

👍They appreciated sitting around a table and eating meals together.

👍They loved the extra unhindered time with family with fewer extra murals and distractions.

How you spend time with children counts!!! That is why our kids life coach training is so powerful!

Our students come from a range of backgrounds such as teaching, social work, psychology and life coaching. No matter their background and experience, our training is underpinned by our highest value at The Kids Life Studio® which is RELATIONSHIPS.

Children are yearning for real, meaningful conn...