Looking to improve your child’s confidence and resilience? We review the online mindfulness course, ‘Brilliant Me & My Mind’, to examine how it aims to positively influence younger children by helping to develop these skills.
In order for us to carry out this review, we were kindly gifted a free place for the course. Rest assured though, that all the opinions expressed below are entirely our own. We would never take payment or free gifts for false or exaggerated reviews.
Background
I was approached by the people at ‘Role Models‘ with an offer for one of my children to try out one of their online courses, in exchange for an honest evaluation. As we are currently on lock-down in Spain, I am always on the lookout for new things for my kids to try, so was delighted to accept their offer, signing up my eldest, Savannah (5) onto their course entitled ‘Brilliant Me & My Mind’.
Given that the concept of mindfulness seems to be a hot topic and all the rage at the moment, I was also interested to see if these ideas could be successfully translated into teaching aimed specifically at children.
Course Details
Course Duration:
- 5 x 1½ hour lessons (7½ hours in total).
- Either from Monday to Friday, for 5 consecutive days, or else on 5 consecutive Saturdays.
Cost
- £225.00 per child, per course.
- Currently a 20% discount is available for all courses via the Role Models website.
- There is also an offer of free course places for children of NHS staff, at the time of writing.
Teaching Format
- Lessons are conducted online using video conferencing, via the free to use Zoom app.
- The course concludes with a virtual certificate for each child, as well as providing 3 follow-on videos to help the children to subsequently continue along their learning path.
Format of Lessons
- Lessons are conducted remotely over video conferencing, in small groups of children of the same age. They are hosted by an engaging presenter who leads all of the tasks and activities. The presenter utilised a toy to help her with putting the children at ease; something that was very welcome at the start.
- Each lesson has a key mindfulness message, such as promoting a ‘can do’ attitude, with a suggested related book to reference alongside.
- Lessons begin with a series of icebreaker activities to help the children to relax and engage.
- Printable worksheets are used for activities during the lessons. If you don’t have access to a printer (like we don’t at present), these can be created by the child during the lesson easily enough, without the lesson being negatively affected.
- Lessons include a section focusing on reading – good for improving literacy, as well as reinforcing the message of promoting a willingness to try new things.
- There is always a scavenger hunt for commonly found household items, with a chance for children to show and tell the things they find. Lessons also include a short break to help keep the children moving around and not overloaded.
- Lessons end with a mindfulness task that relates to the key message of the day.
Feedback for Parents/Guardians
Following the end of a lesson, an email is sent to a nominated account. This contains details of the content of the lesson, ideas for creative tasks that relate to the mindfulness message of the lesson, as well as a ‘top tip’ to help with embedding any new learning.
Savannah’s Experiences of the Course
So how was the course and did it prove to be beneficial for my daughter, Savannah?
- I would describe Savannah as a reasonably well balanced child in general. She can be sensitive about certain things at times, can slip into being negative when challenged with new activities, is quite competitive and doesn’t like to fail. I wouldn’t say that she was particularly shy or nervous in general. So, that was her starting point.
- I’ll be honest, to begin with she wasn’t that keen about the idea of doing the course. It took a bit of persuading. When the first lesson began, she was quite apprehensive about it, insisting that she sat on my knee. She was soon put at ease by the presenter though, quickly relaxing and even independently answering questions in no time.
- As we have been living on the road and homeschooling for all of this school year (before getting stuck for the lock-down), it was actually a great experience for Savannah to be in a group of children her own age (even remotely over the internet), as this is something that she has been missing while being away from home for so long.
- Having completed the course, Savannah is now willing to acknowledge that she can be negative with her attitude at times (which is a start!). While obviously she has not changed entirely in this regard, she has been willing to try and use some of the strategies that she has learned from doing the course to help her, even without any prompting from me.
- She has seemed much more willing to engage with the idea of doing new tasks that she might find challenging. I even caught her quoting some of the course at her younger sister, Aurora, when they were swimming, telling her “when you do new things you are nervous, but then as you try them you find they are fun”. So it obviously made an impression!
- While maybe not the most objective of reviewers (as a 5 year old), when asked to review the course, Savannah gave it 10/10. You can’t say fairer than that.
My Course Evaluation
So, what did we make of it all?
- The course seemed well structured and engaging from what I saw of it over Savannah’s shoulder.
- The presenters were always very friendly and patient with the children, ensuring that they all felt at ease.
- Each lesson had a clear message, with good supporting resources to complement the learning.
- Savannah, my daughter, did make some good progress with her resilience and willingness to take on new challenges. She has since seemed less likely to slip into negativity before even trying things she thinks will be difficult, as she had a tendency to do before.
- Based on her experiences, I would say that any child should find the course offering useful. That said, I imagine that perhaps children who lack confidence, are quieter, or with more of a nervous disposition could potentially benefit the most.
- For us at least, doing the course as 1 lesson per week on consecutive Saturdays worked well. I wonder if she might have been a bit overloaded if doing the lessons on 5 consecutive days instead.
- My only criticism would perhaps be that the price of the course could be a little on the high side for some people. However, if you have a child that you feel could particularly benefit from the kind of positive messages and coping strategies that are being taught, I reckon it could be money well spent for them.
- Above all, after initially not wanting to do the course, Savannah ended up really enjoying it. I guess that’s what should matter most.
Children of Wanderlust
Administrator
We are Rachel & John, parents from the UK with 4 small children. After persuing separate jobs for many years, including being an experienced science teacher, we have now moved to Spain for a fresh challenge. We have always had a passion for travel and exploration. Nowadays, that means bringing our 4 children, Savannah (9), Aurora (7), Easton (5) and Tiago (3) along with us. This oftens means taking a road trip in our beloved vintage camper, touring all corners of Europe and Morocco. We hope that you enjoy reading about our family adventures all over the world.
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