We all want children to be happy and grow into productive, fulfilled adults, and according to the parent expert Maureen Healy, the secret to that success is in providing a foundation of inner confidence. With twenty years of experience as a spiritual teacher and child development expert, Healy knows that confidence is never “out there” but is something to be cultivated from the inside.
The older Sonshine gets does not equate to easier parenting for me as a first time parent. It opens new doors and windows, brand new questions that can plague me with no certain answer, no matter how many more experienced parents I ask. You can’t help but see the news is full of stories of bullies and the outcome is not usually a happy one. And, I’ve noticed lately, that Sonshine is becoming shy around me. As his mother, I’m the only person who won’t judge him for (sometimes literally) dancing to his own beat, or answering a question, or talking gibberish to me. Then I realized, he might be shy, just like I was, due to lack of self confidence.
Maureen Healy is the author of Growing Happy Kids: How to Foster Inner Confidence, Success, and Happiness. With more than 20 years of global experience, Healy has a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and a Masters of Business Administration from Clark University as well as a Masters level of completion in Child Clinical Psychology from Fielding Graduate University. Healy also has an in-depth study in Tibetan Buddhism in Asia, Europe, and the United States. In 2007, Healy started a program for Tibetan refugee children in Asia and since then has built child-centered programs around the US. One of her most profound teachers was His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, in his temple.
Drawing from her experiences in Eastern and Western cultures, Healy has developed the perfectly balanced book for parents to help foster confidence and happy in their children. What makes this book different from the rest out there is the tone. There is no condescending voice, there are no words that require a PhD or the use of a dictionary to understand. Instead, Healy writes in a warm and easily understood voice, helpful to those of use who need to read the book in small snippets between, well, life. The book is broken up into three parts, with a key section in part two; The Five Building Blocks of Confidence .“..which are a proven system that nurtures a sense of confidence in children from outer to inner confidence,” according to Healy herself.
The Five Blocks are:
- Biology
- Beliefs
- Emotions
- Social
- Spiritual
And each is fully expanded upon and detailed in the book. I also am very fond of Healy’s answer to something she writes in the book. She states that confidence comes before happiness and here is why:
Yes. This is true. Confidence comes before real happiness. The type of happiness that isn’t fleeting but can stay regardless of the problems of everyday living. And when I say confidence I am talking about inner confidence. The type of confidence that is rooted in something internal versus external. So when I say confidence comes before happiness I am really saying, inner confidence comes before lasting happiness. I devote an entire chapter of the book on this connection and introducing it to you.
In other words, inner confidence, a strong building block for any child begets outer, superficial happiness which is or can be fleeting. I think that is some very strong, solid advice, even without reading the book!
I am reading this the book for a second time before I start the actions with Sonshine. I haven’t found any advice in the book that I disagree with and I hope to see a more confident and therefore, happier kid in my near future!
Connect
You can connect with Growing Happy Children and Maureen Healy on her website and Twitter pages
Buy It
You can purchase the book from Amazon in paperback for $11.15 or Kindle $10.09
You can purchase the book from Barnes and Noble in paperback for $11.15 or Nook for $10.16
