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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

When we interview people and decide to give them the go ahead to join our global team of Kids Life Studio brand ambassadors there is an element of gut feeling....initially....

As the founder, when I speak to Childrens change makers, I use my intuition to “feel” their true intentions. Usually this is what I call my “goose bump” moment! Where I connect to the persons heart.

Once that is done we move into the formalities. A checklist of criteria we look for in brand ambassadors. One of the MOST IMPORTANT things we look for is attitude over aptitude.

Yet this is probably the hardest thing to measure initially....since some people choose to hide their true colours until later.

So we ask ourselves some of these questions when screening “leaders” to join our organisation as change makers for children:

Do they have a good foundation for coaching children already in place? This isn’t necessarily formal education but could be that little secret...

Just imagine. You are in a burning building. Your toddler is with you. You are on the 16th floor.  You can't use the lift. So you run down the stairs but cannot get past the second floor. You have nowhere to go. So you climb onto a balcony.  All you can think about is saving your child.

What would you do?

A South African mother did the unthinkable. As she was engulfed in smoke, she made a split second decision. She threw her 2-year old from the first floor of the burning building, into her neighbours arms. She trusted they would catch her little girl and keep her safe. 

Why did this happen?

This was in the aftermath of a rampage of violence, riots, looting and arson throughout the city of Durban. My old hometown. The place I was born.

The very spot this happened, I have fond childhood memories of holiday shopping with my mom and my accompanying treat at the "Wimpy" for a burger, chips and milkshake. 

My childhood is a far cry to the one currently being...