Do you need a WHY? YES—of course you do! And so does every kid. Why should we wait until we’re adults to discover what we’re passionate about in life? I believe it is vital to develop the strengths, passions, and interests of every child. By doing so, we not only increase self-esteem, wellbeing, and reduce anxiety, we also support emotional intelligence and social and emotional development. It is really simple. When people follow their passions, live a life of purpose, and practise gratitude, they focus on their goals and strengthen their impact. Can you imagine how amazing it would be if we were all able to focus on living the life of our dreams from a deeply centred purpose? My guess is that the world would be filled with more gratitude and love and that every person would know their strengths and be connected to their passions. Everywhere we look our education systems are focusing on the highest marks, the biggest paycheque, and are failing to teach our next generation about self-love, compassion, gratitude, and empathy. Clearly, this just isn’t going to cut it! As adults, we CRAVE the skills that help make coping with life’s ups and downs a little easier, so, what if we could equip our children with the knowledge to be more resilient, confident, and grateful? When you know your children’s strengths then you also learn what makes them tick, how they think, and how they respond. This same information is equally as important for teachers to know. Although you personally may struggle with mathematics and logic, you might excel in English and speaking and writing—so why not use the principles of speaking and reading and writing and apply that understanding to mathematics? Not only will this make your, and your children’s, learning that much easier, but also more enjoyable. During my teaching years I noticed there was a vitally important piece missing in our children’s education. Lessons surrounding social and emotional wellbeing, and the development of coping strategies needed for a healthy and happy life, were largely absent. When I started to teach these principles alongside the standard curriculum I began to notice a big change in my students. They loved coming to school, they were less anxious, and we hardly ever had any behavioural issues. My Happy Book aims to help every child nurture their social and emotional wellbeing and ignite their entrepreneurial mind. I believe that every child can change the future of our planet and make a real impact on this world. Can you imagine how amazing our future could be if principles of self-care, gratitude, kindness, finding your purpose, body love, and caring for the greater environment were taught from the age of 3? The book was created for children and early-to-mid teens (3-15 years). Parent directed from ages 3-8 and self directed 8 and up. It is packed with activities and templates for you and your child to fill out and self-reflect on who they really are. As this is no ordinary book, you’ll find quotes, handwritten letters, and templates to help you think about the principles and put them into action in your life in a way that makes sense to YOU. This book has five parts and will take you on a journey of self-discovery, teach you how to appreciate your surroundings, learn from hardships, focus on the positive, and find activities to help you jump right into your passion project. There are shout pages for you to show gratitude for your family and friends, love that surrounds for your family and friends to fill out about you, a vision board, a guided passion project, consequences, boundaries, fear ladder and so much more. You can use your happy book however you feel it works best for you. You can draw, doodle, paste pictures, colour—whatever! This is your book and it is all about you. Keep it close to you, schedule time to work on it, and remember to go back and read it to see how far you’ve come and remember all of the wonderful things about you.
