Did you know that up to the age of five, most kids think they are the funniest, fastest, and pretty darn fabulous? That is absolutely awesome! However, according to independent findings by Susan Harter and Herbert Marsh, this drastically changes in children aged between five and eight due to social impacts and conditioning, wherein children’s belief in themselves and their capabilities changes significantly. By then, they know Tommy is the fastest, Sally is the funniest, and Sarah is the smartest. At Mighty Moments, we are fully aware of these social changes and try our best to empower kids to believe they are awesome at any age! Our methodology at Mighty Moments is to integrate this research and knowledge into our practice and weave social and emotional development lessons into our interactions with kids.
We are lucky enough to hang out daily with, teach, talk to and have fun with the best peeps in the world. Those peeps are kids! They can be a bunch of crazy creatures… But one thing I do know is that they are pretty awesome at being themselves.
If you are lucky enough to know us (Will, Leah and Amanda), you will know #1: We love a good belly laugh. #2: We are three seriously out-of-the-box thinkers, and last but not least, #3: we are massive fans of kids! Kids have a place where they feel comfortable being themselves, their well-being, developing emotional intelligence and including all their super-duper powers in their everyday lives! Especially their candor- their beautiful, unreserved, honesty, and sincere expression, often forthrightness, that can throw you back in your seat or even make you fall off your chair! Let’s be honest: kids have an incredible ability to be unapologetically themselves and say the wildest, most frank and humorous things. Let’s also put it out there that not all adults, professionals, or authority figures like to accept or want to hear what children have to say, especially children who share their unfiltered truth or perspective on life, people, situations, circumstances, or experiences. Kids can often be greeted with disgust, offence, discomfort or a significant cringe by these people, who do not always appreciate honesty! At Mighty Moments, children are respected for their opinions, celebrated and cheered on for speaking up, appreciated for their brutal honesty, and praised for curiosity and openness while being encouraged to be kind and respectful of other people’s feelings. This can often mean you must put your pride and ego aside and appreciate the value of what is being said. It’s not always an easy task, even for the brave! I had first-hand experience with this when I overheard a kid say I was “so old I could be dead”, “Miss Amanda is old but flexible for her age”, or my name is Mrs Diet! Try those on for size; ouch to the ego… But man, did I laugh! Actually, No, I didn’t at first; I think it was Leah and Will laughing in hysterics that made me laugh. But maybe I am so old that I could be dead… Damn straight, I’m flexible for my age… And yes, it has been a lovely, slow and inactive winter. I have enjoyed not getting out of bed to be active… These are just honest, factual observations… Love you, kids!!!
I often receive cracker comments, which, as we’ve seen, can relate to my age, abilities, or looks. Still, they can also be about how I often am a victim of the word thief who steals my words. Sadly, my memory is not as sharp as it used to be.
Meanwhile, Leah always gets praise for her beauty, gorgeous hair, incredible storytelling ability, brains, and amazing English accent! Not to mention her innate understanding of kids, with their lively minds and big feelings, she often reminds Will and me that we still have much to learn!
Where Will’s praise is often about being the super tech guru, Captain Coder, a chess superstar (chess-pert, you know, like an expert, but in chess), his smarts or being Captain Tech, saviour of mine and Leah’s epic computer fails. Oh, and did I mention he’s a real-life wordsmith, man, is he good with WORDS, especially on paper.
The games we’ve chosen for Board Buddies are selected to ensure they can help build children’s wit, imagination, social skills, forward-thinking, and memory, among many more things! Our games include Kids Know Best, Apples for Apples (junior), 5 Second Rule, Trivia, One Minute Challenge and TACO, CAT, GOAT, CHEESE, PIZZA, Twister and Pictionary. These games can elicit unexpected responses and outcomes, leaving us in stitches or total bewilderment. Especially answers to questions such as “What can parents do that kids can’t?”… Oh, boy, hang on to your hat… Swear, drink beer, stay up late, stay out all night, go to the PUB, and wear make-up and high heels, which are all reasonable responses from kids. However, it’s when the answers are counteracted with someone yelling out, “Well, I swear”, “I sip beer”, and or “I’ve been to the pub”, that things start to get interesting.
Our classes are the highlight of our week, and everyone is always an absolute treat. The game, “Kids Know Best”, is spot on, as neither Leah, Will, nor I have won a game yet!
I will leave you on this note by a preppy informing a curious dad about board buddies for his son. Dad asks, “What’s Board Buddies?” The preppy responds: “You know, it’s get yourself a board and bring your buddy – that’s Board Buddies!”
Stay awesome, Mighty Moments peeps. I hope we have given you some insight into us, our day on the job, our intentions, and our methodology. But just as important, we hope you have giggled and remembered that kids are kids. To become witty, self-assured, and emotionally intelligent adults, they need to be championed for their candor and truth.
Levy-Friedman, B., & Kogut, T. (2024). Children’s self-evaluation of their prosociality when comparing themselves with a specific versus abstract other. Child Development, 95, 24–33. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13975
Harter, S. (2013). The development of self-esteem. In Self-esteem issues and answers (pp. 144-150). Psychology Press.