The Happy Confident Company’s recently launched club is designed to bring the benefits of mindfulness into the heart of family life
Many families have a whole host of regular commitments – from after-school swimming and running meets for children to gym memberships for parents – so why not add mindfulness to the routine? That is the thinking behind Happy Confident Club, a just-launched subscription from the Happy Confident Company.
The company, founded by Nadim Saad, is already known for its work with UK schools (almost 150 and counting) and its mindfulness journals and cards to help children build emotional intelligence. The club is, says Chief Creative Strategy Officer Jo Chadwick, a logical next step in widening its mindfulness teaching. “We’re coming at this in a preventative and a child development and family development way,” she says.
One of the current problems the club seeks to address is that children’s emotional and wellbeing issues are often addressed at the worst possible time. “Parents and teachers tend to talk to children about their feelings when there’s a problem, or when they perceive there to be a problem,” says Jo Chadwick. “For children, talking about feelings shouldn’t feel like something you have to do when you’re feeling quite overwhelmed.” In other words, the upset and angry child is in a bad place, so hardly in a position to make sense of the jumble of emotions they are feeling.
Talking about feelings from a good place is where Happy Confident Company came in, so the club builds on existing knowledge. This is a regular subscription, costing £9.99 a month, and brings together a raft of resources and expertise. There’s Happy Confident Me TV (HCM TV), a fun and engaging 10-part series on the ten powers children need to flourish, and with a bit of age-appropriate neuroscience in the mix.
It is presented by broadcaster Emma Willis and with input from children. Willis loved the idea from the start and her approach is very frank, and only loosely scripted. Similarly, the testimonials and advice from children who appear in the series are first-hand accounts – usefully, a variety of age ranges appear. There are printable children’s activities to boost confidence and self-belief and ‘Top Tips and Quick Hacks’ – simple ideas to implement on a daily basis, such as breathing exercises, affirmation and tapping. Families also get a hefty discount on existing products such as Feelit! cards and the journal series.
It’s the extra support built into the subscription that may seal the deal for parents. These include a Family Connections Monthly Webinar hosted by Nadim Saad on how to address common struggles and perennial issues. Then there are the regular online drop-in sessions with Happy Confident Co expert advisors, including Lulu Luckock, Kelly Hannaghan and Dr Maryhan Baker. These will tackle the tough stuff – from ADHD to inclusion and friendship issues. There are plans to go out to the ‘coal face’, bringing Headteachers on board to answer parents’ questions at certain points in the year (the company already has two former teachers on its advice team).
“Online drop-in sessions with Happy Confident Co expert advisors will tackle the tough stuff – from ADHD to inclusion”
Jo Chadwick says that webinars and drop-in sessions are designed as a responsive and ever-growing resource, always informed and shaped by subscribers. “Nadim is very keen that members feed back to what they want. We will be adapting and evolving as we go, based on the needs of our members.”
Evolving resources will also include a bank of articles that can be searched within the subscription – enabling families to tap into expertise from multiple trusted voices and avoid the desperation of a late-night Google search for information. Jo Chadwick says this bank of articles is critical. “What we’re really hoping to do is distil the very finest information and the most proven information, from a neuroscience perspective, from a parenting perspective and also from an education perspective,” she says. “Not based on one person’s way, but the ways that really work, the ways that are really grounded, the ways that research has proven will really help.”
One of the benefits of any club is that feeling of shared ground and the team aim to help families engage in an empowering way. “We are threading and weaving emotional literacy through everything that we do, and that’s something that will really come to the fore through the subscription,” she says. The club’s design as a whole-family affair is important. “If we as parents can’t join our children on the journey it just feels like another arduous task for the child – another expectation of them.”
Underpinning the club is the very simple idea that daily mindfulness practice is not a big fuss, just a simple daily routine that helps children to find the words for their feelings and to focus on who they are, what makes them happy, and how to cope when things don’t go to plan. “We are opening up those conversations and teaching children the nuances between their feelings in a fun and engaging way, so when it comes down to it and there is an issue or a problem, they have the language to help themselves.”
Happy Confident Company happyconfidentme.com
Further reading: Can yoga help my young son relax?
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