get the popcorn in…
School Holidays are always only a few weeks away…
And you might be set for educational days
at forts, castles, libraries and museums.
Or splashing at the beach.
Playing at the park.
Or MAYBE
there’s the odd Playstation/XBox game and Cinema trip.
(and I have heard from mums ALREADY beating themselves up about not providing 24-hour Butlins Red Coat-esque entertainment)
It’s OK.
They can watch a bit of Netflix/Play Playstation etc from time to time
Not a popular view –
but in the mix of school, activities, and just spinning round and round or trying to get teach the cat to play ‘pom-pom football’
Or learning the to do the Cup Song and spilling everything everywhere
Watching the odd film and a bit of gaming…probably won’t make them fail their A-Levels.
Two things this week really made happy about
GOOD stuff going on in the World of Childrens Media.
-
The Sims, and
-
Inside out
Over the years of having very techno literate (and keen gamer) children, I have seen it going on in the background – and not taken much notice.
(Except Gitaroo Man for the PS2. I am AMAZING at Gitaroo Man)
Oh and RollCage.
I had more time on my hands back then
So I thought I would ask child #3 about The Sims game she was playing.
The characters in her World consist of herself, her brother and her sister.
(I’m not in it – which is frankly rude)
and they all look pretty accurate….spooky.
Anyway she explained how people need to go to work to earn money and all about career progression and pay.
All good stuff.
What was REALLY good was this (make sure you have enabled images)
Needs Bars
So bladder and hygiene is obvious. But I asked her about the others.
Her answers were:
If you don’t eat the right things, your hunger score goes down, or you get sick you cant go to work – or you collapse on the floor.
If you don’t do fun things, you get bored and stop interacting with people and lose interest in things. Makes you sad.
If you don’t socialise with people then you start to get a bit depressed and you don’t really operate well in your life, or your work.
If you don’t get enough sleep your energy goes down and it really puts you in a bad mood.
Me: So which is the most important?
Child #3: They are all equally important,
Although if everything went down to zero you always start with good food.
That made me think for a second.
And literally that day, I took her to see Inside Out, the Pixar Movie.
It’s bloody brilliant.
And what I loved about it, was (maybe not neuroscientifically accurate) was the way it really creatively explained emotions.
and that they all are useful and have their place, with a Control Panel keeping the balance (with a joyful day and happy memories as the aim).
We go about our lives, with all these needs and emotions, but no real training on the control panel.
In fact we rarely check it
We muddle through until a warning light starts flashing or something goes badly wrong.
Children have this stuff sorted;
Too tired – you have to go to bed
Hungry – eat
Bored – play and do fun things
Lonely – see friends
Unfit – run around
Grown ups…
We get distracted to the day-to-day stuff
and looking after everyone else.
As though we don’t deserve things to run smoothly for ourselves.
We ignore it when the little green bars that we don’t want to deal with run to EMPTY.
All our emotions, all our basic needs are important
but most of all it is the balance between them all that make the difference between a happy, fulfilled life
…. and not.
Finding that Balance is what we do in The Project.
Working out what’s going on
- in your mind
- your life
- your health
- your goals
- your mood
What’s working and what isn’t.
And what you can do about that. With support
It is NOT a healthy eating and exercise programme
It is NOT a Mindfulness and Self Development programme.
Although…to the untrained eye it certainly looks like it. And does all those things.
It is a getting your life into BALANCE programme.
It puts you in charge of your CONTROL PANEL
Teaches you how to monitor your NEEDS BARS
This really is a commitment.
Things you have to do EVERY day.
You have to allocate about half an hour.
EVERY DAY
For a few months
You have to share what’s happening with you
be brutally honest
be checked up on
nagged if necessary.
Get the odd kick up the arse.
And a lot of compassion and encouragement
We’ve seen it so many times that we are very confident in knowing, that
..if you do all that – your life WILL change.
It’s achievable, but rigorous,
and DAILY
..like life is.
Only apply if you agree to commit to this.
Every day.
For 6 months
We tend to only accept around 60% of applicants.
If it’s not going to work for where you are in your life right now.
We will tell you.
We won’t waste anyone’s time.
We won’t lie – we want a 100% success rate.
You’ll love it too.
Register your interest… opening soon…