Coaching Kids, Inc. Newsletter
In this issue
• Through the Eyes of Children
• Volunteer Writers and Editors Needed
Greetings Friends and Volunteers!
In an effort to make 2005 even bigger and better, Coaching Kids Inc. is starting a newsletter for Kids, Parents, Volunteers, etc.. To do so, we need your participation. We are looking for entries from writers, aspiring writers, any one with something to say…does that just about cover all of you?
What kind of articles are we looking for? Anything that you would find relevant for Coaching Kids, Inc.
Ironically enough, I wasn’t even close to telling them my name before they changed mine.
Reuel J. Hunt
Through the Eyes of Children
by Reuel Hunt, October 2004
Teaching Life Coaching skills to kids, age 8 to 11, for me is like touching the heart, the center of the universe. Watching them sitting there restless, chatty, uneasy, curious as the class starts. Then, as we close our eyes and notice what is in the room – not people, things, sounds, light, air, not anything we can see, touch, hear, or smell, but rather, what we feel in our space, such as nervousness or fear or excitement or silliness, those kinds of things – there is a calm, a connectedness that settles into the room. Then, as we each share a ‘good finder’ for the week (something we did for someone or that someone did to or for us that made us feel good about who we are, about who we were being) the majority is connected. The shared connectedness in a room full of kids is fulfilling beyond words.
We are currently teaching the Life Coaching skills in 10 separate skills sessions to three groups; girls age 8-9 and age 10-11, and to a group of 6th graders whose parents are incarcerated. Here is what I imagine one or more of those kids might have been thinking during our fourth class when we taught the three groups how to participate in partner mirroring and then advance to mirror listening and spoke further about what Life Coaching is all about:
“Mirroring my partner’s movements, keeping eye contact, ‘get out of my head’, he said – not sure what that means, but I think it is what I am doing, trying to not think about it, noticing I am giggly and that my thoughts are moving back and forth from me to my partner as her hands move around, up and down, and I am holding eye contact and noticing that I am able to be aware of my thoughts and where I am and how I am able to actually mirror my partner’s movements while holding eye contact and not thinking about it. Mirror Listening is what he said this class is called.”
“Then we sat in chairs facing each other, holding that eye contact, not thinking – that’s impossible, and asking the question, ‘How are you living your values?’. We learned our top three values last week. Mine were Family, Spirituality, and Adventure. We got these bright colored cards with our values on them to take to our family and friends to discuss our and their values. I left mine in my locker but some other kids had some interesting discussions with their moms and sisters and friends about their values.”
“It was wonderful sitting there, with eye contact, learning about this kid in a different way than I every knew was possible, and having him listen to me completely, I found myself saying things I didn’t even know about myself…and I was telling him all this, it was wonderful and a little scary.”
“We learned about this thing called Life Coaching, not yelling or ordering or telling me I am doing something wrong, not that kind of coaching, like in PE class, but listening, understanding your values, following your gut, setting goals, looking to the future, planning your life, getting support, that kind of coaching. I really like that kind of coaching.”
“And I really like this class because we do something fun and scary every time – adventure, which is sometimes scary, is one of my values. We have worked with Sam the last year and all of us love her. She brought this old guy in who one kid said, when asked what we thought from our gut about him, that she thought he was a little crazy, a little free spirited.”
Volunteer Writers and Editors Needed
Coaching Kids Needs Your Help
We need writers and editors/proof readers!
Please submit articles to Reuel, rjhunt@earthlink.net, and CC: Samantha, Samantha@CoachSamantha.com.
Editor/Proof reader volunteers, please contact Reuel, rjhunt@earthlink.net, and CC: Samantha, Samantha@CoachSamantha.com.
About Us
Vision:
Empowering youth and parents, through coaching, to discover their unique potential; creating resilient kids, nurturing families, stronger communities and a more humane world.
Mission:
Coaching Kids believes that within each kid and parent lies the miraculous potential of love, joy, peace and purpose. As a community, Coaching Kids is dedicated to unlocking that potential and exponentially transforming the world, one kid at a time.
email: info@coachingkids.org
phone: 303-734-0444
web: http://www.coachingkids.org