Today I Feel Great; The Essential Role Of Positive Self Esteem In Children.

The educational journey can be fraught for children who feel isolated amongst their peers. There is much to support a proposal to introduce lessons into the school syllabus on how to be happy.

Dramatic changes in society have created knock on problems in our children. Their assiduous onset often remains unnoticed until a crisis point is reached. The unhappy child withdraws, fails to thrive in the busy classroom and is a potential target for the bully.

Two generations ago the average family life was remarkably different. The majority of mothers were based at home, generally referred to by the most inappropriate title of housewife. They performed a more hands-on role in the development of their children. Mothers were more readily there to collect children at the school gate, and probably walk them home, or to greet them as they came home through the front door. The mothers that asked how their day went, answered questions raised, enthused, pacified, cajoled. The child re-entered the bosom of the family able to offload and gain immediate support from the family.

But the world changes. Today the majority of mothers need to return to work to provide financial support for the family or continue a career. Children, reluctant to use public transport or walk, need a lift to school where the advent of the iPod, mobile phone and games gizmos provide a constant distraction during the journey. And the pressure mounts. Concerns remain unaired, problems unresolved, opportunities missed. A by-product of our modern lifestyle, it looks unlikely to change. The current economic situation has possibly extended the influence. Mortgages, fuel bills, transport and food costs mount preoccupying parents and aggravating the isolation effect.

The day at school begins. The teaching resource honed to meet the exacting standards of the national curriculum, the inquisitive eyes of Ofsted; the need to hit targets, has little time to deal with the social needs of a child in a class of 30. Teachers are not uncaring. The job content has changed, and the opportunity to act as a proxy parent diminished. Children inadvertently find themselves in between the rock and a hard place. The tendency for some parents to offload some of their historic duties creates a backlog. A vicious circle begins. Children suffer in silence or rebel.

Children who feel good about themselves with positive self esteem view the world differently. An open receptive mind can boost the learning curve dramatically. Something or somebody has to break the cycle and the proposal to teach children personal wellbeeing as part of the Social and emotional aspects of learning (SEAL) in the national curriculum a substantial breakthrough. Psychologists have prepared the way. There are number of educational games to help the teacher and parents  as this should not be a loan crusade at school. Presented in a fun game entices children to join in, breaking hidden barriers and exposing fears that many children feel are unique to them.

If you can get children to open up, reveal their concerns about themselves, or how they relate to others, they will learn how to deal with the negatives by seeing the many positives they had previously masked. A positive frame of mind is receptive, seeks development and is willing to absorb. Moreover the happy child is infectious; a joy to be around developing a personality and resolve that will set them up to deal with the odd knock that life will throw at them. They can also learn to repel the effect of the bullies that lurk well beyond the school days.

Alistair Owens Keen2learn

About The Author Alistair Owens writes for and believes that educational games are a great way to get a subject across in disguise.