When you’re feeling defeated, wondering what to do next, it may sound like a simple minded solution, but first- Smile. Trust me.
A smile is the first step in the right direction. First, take a step back from the situation and find something that makes you smile. If you are stressed, overwhelmed or angry, you won’t make the best decisions. A walk, some fresh air, an episode of the show you’ve been watching late into the night after the kids are sleeping (guilty), a phone call to vent with your bestie, whatever makes you smile. Then come back to the task at hand.
Same goes for your child. If you are needing some quality effort, behaviour or decision making skills from your child, get them to smile first. Creating a positive attitude and a growth mindset will give you far greater results than if you force them into something with a negative mindset. Get them a snack, talk about good things that happened throughout their day, play some music, go for a walk, colour, etc.
The first job for you and your child is to be happy, take care of your mindset FIRST.
At Ignite, we start each session with a smile. We play, have some free time, campfire (talk about the things that come to mind first), smile, then get to work. Sometimes, they arrive with a smile and this only takes a few minutes. Other children arrive after a pretty stressful day at school or home, and a smile is harder to crack. Our jobs as coaches is to induce a positive mindset fFIRST to get the best possible work out of them. If this takes 20 minutes, and we get 10 minutes of work? Fine. Its what they needed on that day. 10 minutes of quality work is better than 20 minutes of work with little to no effort.
Try it. Smile.