NLP-informed tips for supporting children

Whether you are a parent, teacher, coach or caregiver, you may have responsibility for a child you care about and want to help them make the very best of themselves. I believe some NLP-informed ideas can offer useful support.

So how might NLP make a difference? What can you do differently to help the child or children you care for?

• Always focus on what works, rather than only the stuff that isn’t working for them. They may know this already. Children can be very hard on themselves, and they don’t need you to do that as well.
• Encourage them to visualise a good day. When they can imagine it, they may be on the way to making it happen.
  You don’t always need to have an opinion. Sometimes, just listen and let them talk.
• Believe that they can work things out for themselves when you show encouragement and support.
• They may need you to show them how to be strong, confident, make friends or learn from criticism. You are their teacher and a model for them.
• Their map is not your map. Their world may be smaller, and when you change something they weren’t expecting, it can make a big difference. Help them find similarities to what is familiar.
• The fastest way to change your mood can be to move. Exercise and movement can lift the spirits and shift how things feel.
• You don’t need to rescue your child from everything. Be there for them. Show, don’t just tell, and believe they have resources within them too.
• Children and teenagers need to know what the rules are and, if they break them, there need to be appropriate consequences. The word “no” can be important and reassuring.
• Find something good every day to comment on, and let them know you’ve noticed the kind word or deed.
• Know what values you want to pass on to your children and be an example of them.