Signs that a kids life coach isn’t doing their job
Play Based Coaching is about removing the labels
When I did my Masters Degree in Clinical Child Psychology
It was gruelling.
It was exhilarating.
It was exhausting.
It was uplifting.
Being accepted into pretty much unrelated degree to my Bachelor of Education Honours degree based only on my experience was an adventure of note!
I did tons of assignments from ADHD to Autism to Bipolar and more….from Trauma to Social Support….child abuse to suicide. I learnt the intricacies of brain development and neurodevelopmental disorders.I read research papers and attended lectures that left me full of new insights.
As a Psychiatry researcher at Oxford University, I have found ample evidence that labels are for things and not for kids! I have learnt through the evidence, that a lot of children are misdiagnosed and incorrectly supported. I learnt that “testing” and “medicating” (as I have always believed) is not always the answer as many times complex trauma caused by adverse childhood experiences (ACE's) is overlooked.
Most of all I learnt tha...
Can you lose your enthusiasm as a Kids Life Coach?
This past week, I have had the privilege of spending time with certified Kids Life Studio coaches in my hometown of Lymington! They flew in from the USA and Belgium to join me for our Press Pause and Play Retreat 2022! Hosted in the beautiful New Forest in Lymington, England, we did everything from riding bicycles and taking selfies with ponies to doing water obstacle courses and visiting stone henge.
It was truly amazing to see the collaboration and connection that happened in only one week! These lovely team zealers managed to not only connect to each other but they connected to their own inner child as they took the time to walk the walk and talk the talk. Since play based coaching requires us to play, it is important to take time out to connect with nature and with our inner selves and we did all of that and more!
It is hard to stay positive and on track when faced with the daily pressures of life. I love how these participants made an effort to invest into their own mental, phys...
Kids Life Coaching for a technology addiction
Every week on a Thursday my students and certified coaches from around the world gather in a zoom room with me leading them in a peer to peer supervision session. This is one of the things we love to do at The Kids Life Studio Global Network
We value being lifelong learners and discussing our client progress, challenges or opportunities with each other.
Our topic changes each week and recently, our topic was technology addiction. I was super excited about this one as we are seeing such an upswing in this problem in young children. The Kids Life Studio has coaches in over 42 countries and there isn’t one country that is immune to this!!
We all need to be part of the solution as secret parents by staying informed and providing children with a road map for safe tech use. Technology can be good….when managed and when parents role model good habits!! t starts with us walking the walk and talking the talk as Secret Parents so that we can rebrand childhood for resilience, coping and menta...
Why Play based coaching is about more than just Maslow's hierarchy of needs
In 2003 I started developing a play based coaching model for children that educates, motivates and inspires children to become the leaders of their own lives.
In my research I soon realised that Maslows motivation theory had dire outcomes for children since there was so much existential threat relating to life!
Watching a video from a leading psychiatrist reminded me that Maslows theory certainly has merit but I have adapted it to be more relevant to todays culture and environmental context.
All students who go through my Kids Life Coach training through The Kids Life Coach Academy learn how to flip this model to consider a child’s wants and needs.
This enables us to see potential rather than deficit and allows us to enable a child’s labels in a positive way!
Want to join our team. Let me know. Happy to answer your questions.
Regards with zeal,
Zelna Lauwrens
Founder Kids Life Studio and Kids Life Coach Academy
How will you show up as a Kids Life Coach?
Why Play Based Coaching works!
When I first started building and developing my proprietary Play Based Coaching® System (PBC) in 2003, I intuitively knew that children had to be at the centre of the intervention. So I created a system that "speaks" childhood play fluently and taps into potential in a non invasive way.
At the time, I didn't call it Play Based Coaching®, but as time progressed, and I found myself using the name more and more, I decided to formalise it and today this evidence informed approach is being used in 40 countries across multiple cultures, religions and demographics.
This Play Based Coaching® System (PBC) works...
Why?
Because EVERY child has the same needs and those needs are simple...One of the things I teach in my Level 2 training is 'Choice Theory' which is based on the simple concept that every individual only has the power to control themselves and has limited power to control others. Applying Choice Theory allows children to take responsibility for their own life so that their needs ar...
The one big reason Kids Life Coaching online is not as effective as building real face to face relationships
Can I have a little rant please...pretty please...
For those of you who don't know my journey....I have been coaching children since 2003...a long time...and in this time I have had to learn, grow and adapt. In the beginning, I didn't have anybody showing me how to do things and being in a brand new field with nobody to follow, I did a LOT of figuring things out. Especially when it came to promoting and marketing my services.
This is why I love working with new students in my Kids Life Coach Academy school. They are all super smart because they want to help children, but they know the true cost of wasting time doing things through trial and error. The children's change makers who invest into our training, want to take action quickly and they understand the value of learning from somebody else who has done the hard groundwork before them.
So why the rant today....well, when I started my coaching practice. Get this. There was NO social media available! That is almost two decades
...The 3 differences between parent coaching and kids life coaching
Every week, our global network of world-class Kids Life Coaches are provided with bi-weekly group mentorship sessions. We get together on our Teaching Tuesdays and Thinking Thursdays to discuss case studies, come up with new coaching ideas, strategise on how to get the word out but most of all to ask great questions about how to better serve our clients.
One of the questions we have been tackling recently is the difference between parent coaching and kids life coaching. So let me get one thing clear. I am not a parent - this was not through choice. So I am not a 'parenting expert' by any stretch of the imagination. However, as the founder of The Kids Life Studio® and Kids Life Coach Academy School, my background started as an early career teacher, then a school counsellor, and then a university lecturer in Behavioural studies. I also have a Masters degree in clinical child psychology yet I still call myself a Kids Life coach.
Why?
Well, because my Play Based Coaching® model I cr...
Kids Life Coaching plants the seeds of happiness in children
🙌 Are you growing or slowing? 🙌
A while ago, I had a spontaneous “grow something” kind of Sunday. I visited two garden nurseries - one for cake and plants and the other for plants and pots….
I got home and potted some soil and made my new plants welcome in their new home! So let’s clear something up here. Don’t let my apparent enthusiasm for gardening today fool you into thinking I know what I’m doing. In fact I have never had green fingers and I rely on the help and advice of professionals to guide me.
This got me thinking…
As I potted and planted, I noticed that each plant was so unique. One needed part shade and the other liked full sun. The one didn’t like overwatering and the other was apparently very thirsty! The one was tall and the other short. One had flowers and the other fruit.
Yet I respected each one without judgment and realised this….
Plants grow where we plant them. They don’t uproot themselves voluntarily and move somewhere else if they’re not happy. They trust ...
