In reality, we all experience challenging times at various stages throughout life. Helping kids with positive thinking involves developing in them a resilient mindset. This is the ability to rebound after times of anxiety or avoidance and to refocus on what is possible.

Developing a positive and resilient mindset predicts wellbeing and success. If life was ideal, our kids would spend all of their time having a resilient mindset, extracting the best moments of each day, amplifying these to bolster them if tough times occur in the future, expressing gratitude for every sacrifice their parents make for their future and setting goals and surging ahead to achieve great outcomes. 

Of course, human nature is more complex than that. Your wonderful, intelligent kids will have ups and downs like the rest of us.

Let’s start by acknowledging that positive, happy moments in life are often fleeting. The feeling of the warmth of the sun on your back, the smile of greeting from someone you love, a great game at the playground, the smell of a lovely meal - if you don’t make the most of these moments in life it is easy to miss them.

## Encourage the Expression of Feelings and Discussion

One of the quickest ways to improve your life is to think more positively about yourself and the things that happen to you. This is an artform we can all use and it is something we can develop in our kids.

The first step towards this may surprise you - start with the dark. Briefly go through all the things that have gone wrong, were dull and humdrum or annoyed us during the day. We need to get these out and shelve them so we can move on. Learning how to compress the negative so that we don’t get ‘blinded’ by it, is an essential skill. 

Parents can ask their children, *"Tell me the five worst things that happened today?"* or *“What part of the day was the most boring for you?"* Once they have told you (and they almost always will) you can say, *"Well, I’m glad that’s over! I hope you didn’t let it wreck the rest of the day?"*

This is important. A really critical skill is not allowing the things that go against us to swamp the things that do go our way.

Then you might say, *"So give the day a rating out of 10 so far with 0 equalling dreadful and 10 being mind-sizzlingly, spine-tinglingly, goosebump-raising good."* If they give the day a low rating before saying, *"Then we need to do something to lift that"* to ask them about their feelings.

In addition, you could ask your child what they are grateful for. Gratitude promotes happiness and a sense of belonging for children.

All feelings are valid. There are no ‘bad’ feelings. In my book *‘The A to Z of Feelings’* I talk about the idea of feelings are supposed to flow and change. Teaching children this is important. Let’s say they answer that they are feeling sad or bored or frustrated. You might then ask them if they are still feeling that way. If they say ‘yes’, ask them where in their body they feel it and if they know of the reason they feel that way.

Encourage a Towards a Positive Mindset 

In reality, we all experience challenging times at various stages throughout life. Helping kids with positive thinking involves developing in them a resilient mindset. This is the ability to rebound after times of anxiety or avoidance and to refocus on what is possible.

Developing a positive and resilient mindset predicts wellbeing and success. If life was ideal, our kids would spend all of their time having a resilient mindset, extracting the best moments of each day, amplifying these to bolster them if tough times occur in the future, expressing gratitude for every sacrifice their parents make for their future and setting goals and surging ahead to achieve great outcomes. 

Of course, human nature is more complex than that. Your wonderful, intelligent kids will have ups and downs like the rest of us.

Let’s start by acknowledging that positive, happy moments in life are often fleeting. The feeling of the warmth of the sun on your back, the smile of greeting from someone you love, a great game at the playground, the smell of a lovely meal - if you don’t make the most of these moments in life it is easy to miss them.


Then you might say, ‘So give the day a rating out of 10 so far with 0 equalling dreadful and 10 being mind-sizzlingly, spine-tinglingly, goosebump-raisingly good.’ If they give the day a low rating before saying, ‘Then we need to do something to lift that’ ask them about their feelings.

In addition, you could ask your child what they are grateful for. Gratitude promotes happiness and a sense of belonging for children.

All feelings are valid. There are no ‘bad’ feelings. In my book ‘The A to Z of Feelings’ I talk about the idea of feelings are supposed to flow and change. Teaching children this is important. Let’s say they answer that they are feeling sad or bored or frustrated. You might then ask them if they are still feeling that way. If they say ‘yes’, ask them where in their body they feel it and if they know of the reason they feel that way.

## Encourage Children Towards a Positive Mindset 

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Developing a positive and resilient mindset is about learning that while it is fine to have these negative feelings, we shouldn’t put up with them for too long. Helping kids to think positively involves showing them how to change their feelings. Ask them, *"Are you ready to change that feeling or is there more you would like to talk about first?"*

Some kids like to tell you all the details of a bad day. Let them (for a while) maybe for ten minutes. Listen. Make soothing comments such as, *"That sounds rotten"* or *"I’m sorry that happened."* Unless there are exceptional circumstances, try not to provide solutions. This is teaching them to get feelings ‘off their chest’ so they can move on and think positively.

Once they have told you enough, then say, *"Right let’s now do something better. I’ve got some ideas but maybe you have some too?"* If you can shift gears by moving to a different setting or into another part of your home and do something that is more fun, like going for a walk outside, playing with a pet, helping in the garden or listening to music.

To shift from negative to positive thinking often involves movement, eating, laughing, playing and doing things together.

## Positive Thinking Lessons for Life

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There are ten key lessons parents can help their children to learn that will help them to think more positively from a young age.

1. *Don’t wait to see if you are having a good time*. Instead of going to places and seeing if it is fun decide in advance to have fun regardless of the circumstances. Enjoy the day regardless of the weather. Make the most of the occasion regardless of the company.

2. *Go outside and play. *Whether you’re a kid or older, playing is for everyone! Go for walks, throw a dog a stick, skip, sing loudly or imagine yourself to be a spy passing through enemy territory. Whatever does it for you. Make a promise to play more.

3. *Develop deep friendships.* Your friends are your true wealth. Value them and see them regularly. Let them know how important they are to you. Most people only have two close friends so don’t fool yourself into believing you are less popular than most people.

4.* Increase the closeness of extended family*. Keeping in close contact with your family gives you a support base for difficult times and also strengthens your sense of where you come from. Feeling you belong in a family is a powerful way of being happy.

5. *Play to your strengths. *Have a good long hard look at yourself. What are you good at? Make a commitment to develop your skills, talents and abilities as much as you can. Use the analysis at www.mylearningstrengths.com to help. If you don’t develop your own unique talents, the world misses out.

6. *Seek out groups that most strongly value what you have to offer.* Find your tribe. Search for the niche where your abilities are valued.

7. *Avoid social groups where your unique attributes are not valued. *Not everyone is going to like you or think you could amount to much. Get used to it. Accept that it is so, and then get out of their way.

As Mark Twain wrote, *“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great ones make you feel that you, too, can become great."*

8. *Live in the dreamtime. *Dare to dream big dreams. Find and follow your passions. Make a promise to live a wonderful life.

9. *Laugh a lot more. *Find people, shows, books, films and situations that make you laugh and surround yourself with them.

10. *Have something bigger than yourself to believe in.* Think about the contribution you can make while you are on this planet and do it.

11. *Be as friendly as you can to as many people as you can.* Becoming known as someone who is positive to be around is a great way to create a fantastic life. 


Understanding the power of a positive mindset has many benefits. Teaching children from a young age the different ways to be positive allows them to understand why it’s important to strive for positivity. For more information about the positive experiences that we provide in Outside School Hours Care, please visit [https://campaustralia.com.au/your-oshc](https://campaustralia.com.au/your-oshc).

![andrewfuller2020.jpg](https://caprdstdlrs.blob.core.windows.net/public-cms/assets/andrewfuller2020_ca8d92e868.jpg)

*About Andrew*

*Andrew is an Hon. Fellow at the University of Melbourne and has been a scientific consultant for the ABC. He is an ambassador for Adolescent Success and the Lion’s Wellbeing.*

*He has also been a principal consultant to the Dept. Education START, resilience and Bully Stoppers initiatives and the national drug prevention strategy REDI and is a regular presenter on Radio National.*

*Andrew’s research on learning strengths takes the research on resilience and positive education back into the classroom where it can make the most difference.*

*His most recent books include ‘The A to Z of Feelings’, ‘Tricky Behaviours’ “Your Best Life at Any Age” and “Neuro-developmental Differentiation- Optimising Brain Systems to Maximise Learning”.*





Maintaining a positive mindset is key to establishing healthy behaviours and thoughts. Learn about the importance of positive thinking for kids and how to adapt.

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How to Encourage Positive Thinking in Kids

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Camp Australia

Rocketeers Mission III was a blast! The school holidays are all about having fun. The Rocketeers school holiday program offers primary school children a wide variety of different experiences for the school holidays.
Some of our highlighted activities for the school holidays included Project: Building Challenge, Project: Illusions, and of course, The Rocketeers Film Festival! Let’s take a closer look at these exciting school holiday activities.  

## Project: Building Challenge

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Who doesn’t like to build, right?
 
Children enjoyed competing against other services across Australia by building the biggest and the best Rocketeers city landscape. They could work together to construct their Rocketeers City for their particular service.

Points were awarded for visual appeal, the architectural design displayed, plus the use of materials found in and around Base Camp. Brainstorming the name of the city was a challenge in itself!

Winners are awarded with a credit to spend on resources for their service.

Stay tuned…winners to be announced at a later stage…


## Project: Illusions

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The mystery of optical illusions was uncovered in a fun school holiday activity - solving the secrets of reflections, writing invisible messages and creating a pair of illusion goggles. 

*Reflection art* - Children explored the power of all thing’s symmetry, geometry and angles by doodling, drawing or decorating a semi-circular “piece of pie” and placing a mirror in front of it to create an ah-mazing reflection of their creation.

*Magic card* - Children’s hands will served as a magic wand, while their creative minds acted as the magic spell! They watched as a hidden drawing appeared out of nowhere!

*Mirror goggles* - Making their very own pair of mirror goggles, children challenged their brain to solve secret messages with the use of a mysterious map. Do you think some treasure was found?


## The Rocketeers Film Festival

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A film festival designed for children, with a filmmaking competition as well – giving children the experience to submit a 30sec – 1 min video that they have written, directed and starred in!

We were delighted to partner with StarTime Studios (the experts in filmmaking) to deliver a free 6-part on-demand series and two live Zoom sessions to educate children about filmmaking – from visual story telling, special effects and green screen. 

For children who were holidaying at home due to COVID-19 restrictions, we also brought the fun to them with The Rocketeers Film Festival Online. 

The [premiere](https://www.campaustralia.com.au/film-fest-online) is set for Sunday 24th October, where we’ll be showcasing some of the best submitted movies with our special guests.


For more information about our Rocketeers school holiday program and to join us next school holidays, visit https://www.campaustralia.com.au/rocketeers.





Rocketeers Mission III was a blast! The school holidays are all about having fun. The Rocketeers school holiday program offers primary school children a wide variety of different experiences for the school holidays.

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Rocketeers – Bringing School Holiday Experiences to Children

Our Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) programs are well-rounded, meaningful and affordable. Based on 30 years of experience.

Guiding children's growth through experiences that children love

At Camp Australia, children are at the heart of everything we do. We provide tailored enrichment programs to children before school, after school and in their school holidays. Our engaged educators foster a safe, inclusive environment where children can learn, have fun and connect. 

Guiding children’s growth through experiences they love

Striving to guide children’s growth is something that we share with parents, educators and partner schools. Here we cover topics of interest for anyone who is privileged to be a part of a child’s upbringing.

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At Your OSHC, we tailor every program to the likes and interests of each child in our service. Our educators design enriching experiences to develop children’s confidence, curiosity and resilience. In any one week, they could be participating in science experiments, active play, creative expression and more - we believe in the power of learning through experience.

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Tailored before and after school experiences children love

Partnering with Camp Australia means that your Outside School Hours Care program considers your students, parents, community, and importantly your school.

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Every school is different, and every child is unique

Rocketeers allows children to escape the ordinary and experience the extraordinary during their school holidays. Every school holiday break presents a new mission for children to embark upon. No two days are the same with Rocketeers, with each day of the mission promising new and exciting adventures that children love. 

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Extraordinary holiday adventures – made for children

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Knox Park Primary School has been using Camp Australia to provide Out of School Hours Care for nearly ten years now. During this time the OSHC space has changed significantly, and Camp Australia has led the way with innovation and improvement to benefit children, parents, staff and the school. We have found it to be a very inclusive program, allowing access for all children. Our school-based coordinators have provided consistency and quality, resulting in a well-renowned program that is always attractive to potential families looking to enrol in the school. We continue to receive positive feedback about the care, nurturing and learning experiences that Camp Australia provides. The School Council is happy with the ease that we continue to negotiate our contracts and look after our families by maintaining relatively low costs for users whilst providing a high-quality, engaging service. As a school, we appreciate the consistency that Camp Australia provides to our Out of School Hours Care program and have just rolled over our contract yet again.

Mark Hanson, Principal

We have been in partnership with Camp Australia since 2004 and have just resigned with them this year.  

We did investigate other companies but decided to stay with Camp Australia as they provide a fantastic program which our students love and look forward to attending.

We have watched the company evolve over the years and look forward to this next journey which we think will be very exciting for all involved.

The staff are wonderful and a pleasure to deal with at all levels and we cannot recommend them highly enough.


Tanya Elliott, Business Manager

The team at Camp Australia are brilliant. My child has special needs with the occasional meltdowns that come with it. Ash and the team are great in holding the meltdowns without calling me to leave work to come to get him.

They give excellent care and attention to all children that attend Camp Australia.
My child has a great time when he comes to Camp Australia in the mornings, afternoons and for Vacation Care in the holidays. My child has created a great bond with staff members.

The children would be lost if they were to leave.

Parent

My son loves attending OSHC and the staff has really managed his behaviour challenges beautifully. We are so grateful that you work with him in every way possible. It is all a Mum can ask for.

The Camp Australia team at St. Therese Mascot does a fantastic job taking care of the kids. My sons have been attending OSHC and Vacation Care for several years now and still enjoy their time there with the various activities and games planned for each session. Maddie does an amazing job coordinating the sessions and programs since we have been attending and the children look forward to their time there - in fact, the hardest part is getting them to leave and go home at the end of the day! Big thanks to the whole team who are all wonderful carers. The children would be lost if they were to leave.

Tailored before and after school experiences