Dear Parent

Thank you for delving deeper into Powerful and wanting to create a powerful home environment to nurture powerful children. The information below is for you. You can also read the information for teachers if you are deeply interested–some of the activities suggested for school can be done at home!

How can I create a powerful home?

FIRST STEP

Firstly, read the book! Familiarise yourself with the content, song and actions–then, with wild enthusiasm, read it, sing it and dance it with your child. If you have common dyslexic issues, you'll be happy to know that this book uses the typeface OpenDyslexic, so you'll find it much easier to read. (This also applies to older children who have the same issues.)

Make sure you are using the specific actions that go with the song. Raise your arms in the air, put your fists on your hips, take the bad feeling, make it small, throw it far away, then repeat.

The more enthusiasm you show, the stronger the child will take it in. Always remind your child that a really powerful person uses their superpower to be kind, to be gentle and to share.

Discuss the Book

Over the next days and weeks, when you've read the book once or twice, the next time you read it discuss the story with your child. Ask what they see in the illustrations. Ask what they think about the characters. Ask what they would do in the same situation.

CUSTOMISE the book

Now is your chance to customise the book for your child. Ask if any one has been mean to them. There are two white squares in the book that you can write your child's experiences in. Changing the story to fit your child's circumstances will make it that much more relevant. Every time something happens, you can change the story to reflect the current circumstances.

INVOLVE OLDER SIBLINGS

Most children older than nine can also learn to be powerful with the same story; however, your approach needs to be different. Older children are experiencing this material not only to learn to release their own superpower, but to be able to teach their younger siblings to be powerful too. Explain that they can become a Teacher of Superpowers because, being older, their superpower is that much greater.

EXPERIENCE IT FOR YOURSELF

You and your partner can try it out too. This is what your children are doing - experience it for yourselves.

Use the NLP process in the book and song: pull up the memory of something small that upset you, separate the feelings from the picture, imagine taking them out of your body, and keep throwing them away until you have the memory of the incident, yet no emotion about the memory one way or the other. This neutrality will free you to think of other things.

The power poses are potent in themselves - holding a pose for more than two minutes will (according to Amy Cuddy of Harvard Business School) raise your testosterone levels and lower your cortisol levels, resulting in you feeling more confident. That's the other part of what's happening when your child sings and dances to the song.

EVENTS

Involve your kid's friends! Have powerful birthday parties and other get-togethers. Kids bond through the powerful process and can also support each other by reinforcing the shared experience.

sing and dance

As a family, sing and dance the song together often, and remember: with great power comes great responsibility. Always remind eachother that a really Powerful person uses their superpower to be kind, to be gentle and to share.