A lesson from a 7-year-old we must listen to

You may have recently seen a TED talk by young 7-year-old Molly Wright. That's right a TED talk by a 7-year-old. Her talk was titled “How every child can thrive by five”. If you didn’t see it, watch the video below.

 The first thing that struck me when watching this was the confidence of this young girl. With public speaking being one of the biggest fears of most adults, it was quite mesmerising to watch a young girl speak with such eloquence and poise. More powerful was her conviction of message.

For many years now I have been working with children of diverse needs, many of who face their day with anxiety as they touch their feet on the ground in the morning and it doesn’t stop when their head hits the pillow. Worry, anxiety, and fear continue through the night. What we do as adults impacts the experience of life that our children have. I say this not to overwhelm, pressure, or to add more stress on you, but to highlight that our behaviours as adults are being observed, copied, and practiced by our own children and children we come in contact with such as the children we work with, children in our extended families, children we coach and children who even watch our behaviour in cafes and at the park. They are watching and learning from us. As Molly shows when we are distracted by our devices and not engaged with our children they too disconnect and withdraw or plead for our attention and these modelling behaviours start early. I go into the effects of a constantly switched-on culture in my book Switch Off.

Molly highlights the importance of three really simple things; creating connection, communication, and play as the foundations for the positive development of children particularly those before 5 years of age. I would love to know your thoughts after watching the video. I know for me it was a reminder of the power of our actions as adults on the positive development of young children and the value in taking time to slow down and connect with our kids.

Know more than ever our kids need to know we are here for them.

Angela