Improving your child’s happiness & well-being is top of the list for most if not all parents.
The vast majority of us spend every day striving for happiness & well-being. It’s also what we wish upon our friends & family. So what exactly does it mean?
Well-being is defined by the Government Office for Science Foresight Report as ‘a dynamic state, in which the individual is able to develop their potential, work productively and creatively, build strong and positive relationships with others, and contribute to their community. It is enhanced when an individual is able to fulfill their personal and social goals and achieve a sense of purpose in their society.’
Sounds good. It does therefore seem strange that, despite this being our over-riding human goal (besides making babies!), there is such a focus on academia at schools. Yes, our ability to read & write are crucial in helping us to gain more knowledge but how much time at school is assigned to discussing the importance of building strong & positive relationships and how do we go about doing this? After all, most people would agree that their relationships hold more value than their career or wealth.
The Harvard professor, Howard Gardner’s theory (1991) is that we have seven key areas of intelligence – musical-rhythmic, visual-spatial, verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal and intrapersonal – and that our current assessment of intelligence is heavily weighted in favour of linguistics and mathematics. We all have many friends & colleagues whose interpersonal skills – not their linguistic or mathematical ability – have allowed them to forge extremely successful and fulfilling careers.
The key is understanding that, just because your child is not performing brilliantly academically, they may well be outstripping their peers in other forms of intelligence and that only with the opportunity to develop across the intelligence spectrum are we most likely to develop their potential and support them in achieving a state of well-being.
Role Models provides part-time, ad hoc and temporary childcare in and around London. This can be for a few hours on a weekend, a few weeks during the holidays or an after-school pick up role.
We provide fun & engaging people who are skilled in a particular area – be that sport, music, art, drama or academics. The majority of our Role Models are teachers, musicians, artists or actors who all have a wealth of childcare experience. They are all DBS checked, double reference checked, interviewed and over 21.
We also run Special Educational Needs (SEN) camps for 6-12 yr olds with mild to moderate special needs and Resilience Courses for Years 5 & 6 mainstream children looking to develop their confidence through a growth mindset. Our next SEN camps are July 27-31 (Wandsworth) and Aug 3-7 (Ravenscourt Park). Our next Resilience Course is July 27-31 (Chelsea). There are still some spaces remaining.
If you’d like any further information, please contact Role Models
