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The Daydreamer  Creative Writing Course. These methods and techniques, tricks and tips are designed for your child to work with you or with another adult, for fun and as a sharing experience. They will work, so there's no need to rush this process. Once they understand the challenge, they will be happy to do this themselves. We will be available inside our free private group to answer your questions and provide examples. Please trust the process we’ll take you through,  as we have used these techniques thousands of times and with participation, it works. This is a lot of fun as well!

Table of Contents

Introduction                                                               2

Once upon a time                                                     4

Let’s Imagine                                                            7

A Week of Challenges                                              9

Day 1 - Picture This                                                 10

Day 2 - Moving Pictures                                          14

Day 3 - Scrumdiddlyumptious                                 15

Day 4 - Your Toy Story                                            17

Day 5 - Recipe for Delight                                       19

Day 6 - Natural Wonders                                         21

Day 7 - A Real Character                                        23

The Secret Word                                                     25

Top 12 Tips to Happy Children                                31

1. Memories                                                             32

2. Play, Play, Play                                                    34

3. Emotions                                                              36

4. Parents Really Matter                                          38

5. Read, Every Night                                                40

6. I Love You, But I Don't Love Your Behaviour       42

7. Get A Pet - And A Puppet                                    43

8. Don't Do Everything For Them                             45

9. Laughter                                                               48

10. Love Is Unconditional. Be Kind                          50

11. The Small Stuff                                                   52

12. Family Traditions                                                54

13.  It Takes A Village                                               55

14.  Bonus!                                                                55

15.  50 Writing Prompts                                             64

Daydreamer. “What a shame, if only he didn’t daydream so much. He’s bright, but off in another world.”

Introduction

Writers, artists, musicians, singers, poets, designers and anyone who invents, are frequently still described the same when they are children. Lost potential. They would have been achieved so much if only they didn’t daydream such a lot.

But the BIGGEST daydreamers have the most vivid IMAGINATIONS. These are people who dream their world into reality first, then work at making what they see, hear, feel come to life. Or they give it to others and enrol them in their dream, so there’s a collaboration.

Either way without daydreamers,  nothing would happen. It's a paradox. If you watch a daydreamer at work you’d think nothing was happening, but if you saw a scan of their brain it would all be lit up like a Christmas tree. Physically they are sitting still, but their imaginations are in full flight.

I was about six years old when I went blind. By the definition of what is blind; I could still see blurry shapes, some colours and could recognise objects and people, but mostly from memory. It happened slowly, but incredibly it was about two years before anyone connected my behaviour, which must have seemed odd, and lack of attention in class with the inability to see things properly. They just put it down to me being lazy, which I have never been, and daydreaming, which I am a master at.

I was sent to the back of the class so many times I’d go there automatically when I arrived at school each day. Usually it was, “You can stay there until you’ve written what’s on the board.” So, naturally, I stayed there at the back, ‘out of sight out of mind’ and spent days, weeks, months half listening and staring blankly out of the window. Combining what I heard with what I used to be able to see, with what I heard and saw in my imagination, then jumbling them all up together until I went places and saw things only I could see.

Yes it was more complicated than that, and it wasn’t the blindness with which you need a cane or a guide dog to get around, but it was just as profound and in my case, I disguised it. I enjoyed my world more than what I heard being taught in my class.

Looking back I know and can identify that this is where and when my imagination KICKED IN. It took over. I had already been seeing the world clearly for six years so I knew what was out there and what it looked like. Not seeing it clearly anymore didn’t matter; all I had to do to make it more interesting was to start adding to it.

And wow, did I add to it.

I don’t remember knowing I was blind. I was on the school football team, ran races, even played cricket. My other senses were kicking in too to compensate but for everything seen as academic, my teachers said I was off with the fairies. In a very real sense, they were right.  

When we started performing and presenting our creative writing and cartooning shows in schools in 2007 it was like slipping back into my early world. Part of what we do is make up stories around the room by using simple triggers we invented, taking children into a safe mindset in which to play, make mistakes and stretch their imaginations. We go into, through and beyond what they think is in their heads, to places they could never have reached using conventional thinking and writing methods.

There is nothing like being in a room of 200 plus children most of whom have decided long ago that they either hate writing or simply can’t do it, and in a few minutes having them engrossed in a silent room, writing like they never want to stop. That will never get old.

This same room just a short time ago was full of hysterical laughter, which makes this silence even more surreal for the staff and parents who are there with us, and when those same children then REFUSE to stop writing, they know something different is going on.

When asked to share with each other what happened, the room explodes with noise and a million ideas bounce from wall to wall.

If the show or this ebook was about discovering that we can all be storytellers and all write stories, it would be more than enough. But it isn’t. That's simply the catalyst. Children are losing their confidence and self-esteem early. Their self-belief suffers too and vitally their resilience drops. They need to have wins, to know they CAN if they choose to and if they don’t do something, it isn’t because they can’t but because they know they choose not to.

The distinction here is important. Our main purpose through what we do directly in schools and in this book is to not only instil and build all these building blocks vital to children’s mental and emotional health, but to provide the tools they will instinctively use whenever they need them.

If your children have strong self-confidence and resilience, they have a much better chance of getting through and thriving in whatever life throws at them.  

Thank you, and Welcome to Daydreamer .

We know you want to help your child improve their creative writing skills, while at the same time improve and maintain a high level of self-confidence and self-esteem, both of which leads to improved resilience. These three are super powers for young people in our world today. As I mentioned, these are vital building blocks for their well being.

We have been working in primary and high schools every year since 2002, and presenting hundreds of shows and workshops to tens of thousands of children, teens, parents and teachers since 2007.

If you have an issue or a problem, we’ve likely heard and seen many versions of it. You're in good hands, so join our Facebook Group at the bottom and top of this page and engage with us, let us know of any issues that arise and remember, gentle persuasion and having fun is 100% more effective than getting cross, frustrated, creating ultimatums - or even bribery.

If your child is lacking confidence, self-esteem, has low resilience and issues about how ‘clever’ or not they are, we will help, you are in the right place. 

If he or she believes they are not good at writing, or lack imagination, you couldn't be in a better place. Before we start, some insights we have learned from working with tens of thousands of children of all different ages.

1. Most children love writing when they are first introduced to it in year one. The majority of these children say they hate writing and many are fearful of writing by year three.

2. We know why, and how to transform this.
Often children see other children around them who seem to be able to write better, quicker than they can. They decide at that moment that they are not good at writing, and begin collecting evidence to prove it. This of course can then turn into a self fulfilling prophecy, as the less they try the less they practice, the more they give up, the more they give up the more they feel like they’re failing, and the truer this all becomes.
It happens throughout our lives with everything. From drawing, running, sports, maths, languages, music, handicrafts, woodwork, metalwork, art, throwing, catching, swimming … anything. Notice which of these trigger your negative reactions as well because we all have them. 

3. Children become fearful of making mistakes, getting things wrong and looking silly.

 These three genuine fears build up from being laughed at, ridiculed and told off. It becomes so scary that many children simply give up and hide, doing everything they can to go unnoticed either in class or out.  

Writing becomes something they fear because what they write or don’t write can expose them, in their experience, to getting it wrong and being a failure. Another way to stand out, be noticed, and potentially bullied.
This is when self confidence and self belief take a battering, and it will create the “Well, I’ve never been good at …” knee jerk response.
This has to be addressed. Never ignore it. The more it happens the more their resilience will fall. These three areas need constant work, and cannot be rebuilt just once or twice; they need to be maintained through childhood, through adolescence and into adulthood. We will give you ways to do this throughout this ebook.

4. Before we do any writing in our shows I spend half an hour demonstrating to children, their parents and teachers what it took for them to grow into who they are now. 
It is miraculous that a tiny, helpless baby can in a few years learn to walk, talk, run, catch, calculate, share and have the motor skills to play sport and move around in an intelligent safe manner. I do this by demonstrating what babies, toddlers and young children do, and by showing that they, and we, have ALL done these things in our lives, this creates a safe space for everyone to happily in what we ask of them next.

We all learned to drink water by tipping it all over ourselves first, to walk by falling over a thousand times, to eat by wearing all your food and throwing it around - everything we learn to do including writing and thinking creatively we do by repetition and practice. And learning the tricks. The tricks?

5. There are tricks to everything in work and play. Not magic tricks, although they can appear as magic, but tricks on how to achieve our results by learning efficient ways to do them. Every job, every social situation and even every successful relationship happens because we have learned and practiced the tricks on achieving, maintaining and improving ourselves in all situations.

Re-Building confidence that’s been ebbing away for years doesn't happen quickly. It can take time, and that's natural. You can start this building up of confidence immediately and for this to work, persistence is key. First some guidelines enabling you to start in the right direction.

Once upon a time…

So Let’s Start.

1. Being patient is paramount. There is nothing (short of actual violence) that stresses a child more than an adult who is impatient simply because the child isn’t understanding something being explained to them. Patience, repeat, stay calm. Have fun. Stressed? Leave it until tomorrow. Never train a negative response.

2. Manage expectations. Somewhere our expectations of our stories, our children’s stories, have become ridiculously high. The reason this happens is simple enough, but defies logic.

For example, our children read a story, or have a story read to them. They enjoy the story, so when they are asked to write one they naturally assume that the story they write will be equally as good, and as entertaining, as the book they’ve just read.

But this it doesn’t make sense. An adult author who has likely been writing and perfecting their craft for decades has written that particular book; it has been rewritten over and over again, edited dozens of times by the author and professional editors and then, when it has been twisted and turned every possible way, it is sent to a publisher who in turn lets their editors loose on it until the finished product is as perfect as it’s possible to get.

Our children do not have this luxury. They might be given a topic, between 30 minutes and an hour to write their story and perhaps another half an hour to edit and submit for marking. If it’s lucky it gets put up on a wall, but more usually it’s lost in a pile of paper, or ends up part of a writing book and never looked at again.

In 30 minutes to an hour they are fully expecting their story to be at least equal to any they have read, and anything they judge as less than that is interpreted, by THEM, as not being good enough.

Worse, a decision is made or reinforced that they aren’t good at writing. This is not rational. If you go up in a plane as a pilot for the first time and get handed the controls, the expected outcome would be that you’d crash, not that you’d fly unassisted to a city ten thousand miles away.

Likelihood is you wouldn’t get off the ground. So to have the expectation that a child can produce pages of deathless prose before they have at least the rudimentary skills of a writer, plus half a lifetime of experience and practice, is at best delusional. Not that it can’t happen because very occasionally it does, but this is as rare as rare gets and cannot be expected.

What creative writing is for, what it’s ALL about, is to train the brain to think creatively, to stretch and exercise the imagination in order to learn how to brainstorm, think rationally and creatively, and to problem solve. And to have some fun by creating something out of nothing in the process that might, just might, end up being a GOOD story as well.

Fun, and to communicate ideas, because the imagination is limitless and until we get to school it is our number one learning tool. We use it naturally, but using our imagination is easy to ‘unlearn’ and we must stop that from happening.

3. Have fun. Children learn better when they are happy, even better when they find something funny. This was just our theory for several years, and then we discovered scientific evidence to back it up, so we took our findings and presented them to delegates at an education conference in Hobart, along with a demonstration. Eureka moments all round. Not only do we know this to be true experientially, there’s also serious science to back us up.

4. With the 'fun' element in mind, don't force this. It is partly the forcing and having to write at school, when they were feeling so unsure of themselves, that caused this original decline in confidence in their creative ability.

5. Share. Share on our Facebook Group the victories, the losses and the stalemates, and some of the stories that come out too. During our show we create a story with students around the room, with some very easy and cool rules to ensure this creative activity runs smoothly and effortlessly, without judgement. There is nothing like a proud parent or adult to build a child’s confidence.

We'll speak more about that later.

During this part of the show, which lasts about 5-10 minutes, the cartoonist Dave McCleery gets into illustrating the story they come up with as a group. I'll share some of these with you later too.

During this challenge below we will occasionally select a story from those created and sent to us, and Dave will create some illustration magic to go with it.

This technique demonstrates that there are an infinite number of idea openings, and that each of these also has an infinite number of possible directions.

These are available to everyone, all the time, and regardless whether you 'feel like writing’ or not. You can use them eyes open or closed, lying down in bed at night or wide awake on top of a mountain. The more you do this the better you get at it, and you can even do this while asleep. How so? Let's break it down.

Let’s Imagine

When we listen to stories, imagine, watch movies, listen to music, do ANYTHING, our brain is constantly feeding us subconscious images, which quickly become 'visible' just beyond the fringe or BEHIND our eyesight. Inside our heads, that place we call the imagination.

And it's not just images. The same happens with sounds, smells, our sense of physical touch, taste and something I have started to call our proximity sense, which is our ability to move around in our imaginations through time, distance, dimensions and space, and do it instantly.

This is a neat, barely acknowledged trick we can all do and in the future these abilities will be put to extraordinary uses.

But for now, this ability is what provides us with an infinite resource of story ideas, but with any choice, let alone an infinite number of choices, the problem is how to choose where to start and how to pinpoint an idea and narrow down a train of thought.

Let’s take a look at how this works, just for you to see how easy this can become once you know about it, and practice. Imagine YOU are on the Titanic on it's maiden voyage, standing on the bow of the ship with your arms stretched out to your side (I'd like to believe someone actually DID this on the original ship).

Now imagine you are holding an ice cream, at the same time you also notice an iceberg straight ahead. Answer these questions quickly either in your head or on paper, without thinking about them and trust the answer each time, don't second guess yourself.

What flavour is your ice cream?

Are you feeling warm or cold?

Look down, are you standing on wood or metal?

Is the sea calm or rough?

What colour is the sky?

What can you smell?

Where are the missing binoculars?

Who or what  is standing behind you?

Now move forward a few hours in time. You are still standing in the same place, but the ship has struck the iceberg and settled on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

What can you see?

Did you get to finish your ice cream, if not what happened to it, or are you finishing it now?

What does it taste like?

Are you surprised how easy it is to breathe?

Are you feeling cold?

What do you do next?

You find the binoculars, and pick them up. What can you see with them?

Is that person, animal or thing behind you still there?

Swim off the ship and out of the water. Where are you?

There is a big part of our brain at every age that loves to play, to imagine, to jump around between imagination and reality and laugh. We use this area as children all the time to learn, and we learn more easily when we have fun. Our efficient brains know this, which is why the most productive times of learning when we are young, are when we are playing. Above, we can see and feel, taste and hear ourselves on the Titanic, however vaguely. So we have instantly travelled in space and time as well.

 

 A Week of Challenges

If children love playing and using their imagination, and creative writing is all about the imagination, why does writing at school feel like such a chore? And why by year three have the majority of children gone from loving writing to hating, or being scared of it?

There are good reasons for this, but first here is your child's week of challenges. Make sure you give yourself enough lead up time to explain exactly what you want them to do, then give them 10-15 minutes to do it.

They can write if they like, or they can tell you out loud. At this stage either one is fine and works. If they want to go on longer than ten minutes, that's good too. When they want to stop, let them, and congratulate them for their efforts.

Remember the guidelines and adapt these as applicable for your child’s ability and interest. You might complete all 7 in one session if your child is enthused and that’s great, however, they are designed to be completed as a short sharp creative writing exercise to get the imagination activated, and repeated with entirely different responses as many times as you like.

Day 1 - Picture This

Choose a picture. It can be anything, from their favourite picture or subject, a cartoon, photograph, painting, sketch. These can be of buildings, townscapes, mountains, shops, castles, vehicles, planets, real or fantasy, animals, nature, cartoons, oceans or outer space. A dot on a page works too, or even a blank sheet of paper.

Use one of the pictures below this Day 1 challenge if you like.

Just with one image you can create an infinite number of different scenarios and stories, which is what I’m doing each day by writing 1000 Children’s Stories In 1000 Days. This is the technique I’m using.
Ask these questions to start, and if/when your child at any time starts doing this by themselves, let them get on with it. Prompting sometimes is fine, collaborate as well, but let them choose the idea they want to run with. Trust it. Below are just prompt ideas, pick and choose as appropriate

* Choose a point somewhere in the picture. Example: the photo above. Let’s start with walking through the bushes, climbing over the wall onto the front porch. On the left there is a door. Open the door (what is it made of, was it locked, did you have a key, what was the handle made of, what shape was it, did the door creak when it opened, describe/imitate what sound it made.

* You are downstairs. What can you see around you? (prompt just a little if needed, ie staircase, windows, armour, furniture, trap doors, dog, cat etc.)

* There is a spiral staircase, start walking up. What can you hear, what does it smell like, can you smell cooking and if you can, what’s cooking, where, who's cooking?

* The third arrow slit window just below the spire, this is the floor you are now on. What is on the landing?

*Look through the window, what can you see in the distance, behind where the picture was taken from so it is out of shot (just like they thought the interior was).

*There is a round room you walk into. There are old pieces of dark wooden furniture around the walls and a king sized round bed in the middle. What colour are the blankets?

* Look up, there’s a trap door in the ceiling leading to the spire, and a drop down ladder to reach it. Do you go up? What is the ladder made of, what is on the floor of the room, there’s a piece of fruit in a bowl by the bed - what is it, what has been concealed inside it? Cut it open to have a look.

* Open up a drawer in one of the cupboards by the wall. Don’t look inside, but run your hand along the bottom of the drawer to the back. What can you feel, what can you recognise just by touch?

* Choose something and take it out. Is it wrapped up, what is it wrapped in, what’s inside?

* If it’s a message on a piece of parchment - WHAT DOES IT SAY, or if it’s a compass what direction is it pointing in?

* Climb the steps to the trap door. How many are there. Open it and step up into the spire itself. What is inside?

* You find an opening to a spiral slide on the other side of the spire, away from what you can see in the picture. Without looking, you jump down the slide. What happens, where do you go?

* You are outside now, at the bottom of the slide and lying in long grass. It’s wet. There is a rustle in the bushes close by and a creature comes towards you. What is it, what sound does it make?

* What does it say?

* Where does it take you?

Naturally keep this going for as long as they want to, change and choose a different room if they want, go outside, down a well, into the forest and beyond into the mountains, climb one of the big trees and find golden, bejewelled eggs in a nest and …

Let your child lead the story without any agenda from you to ‘get’ somewhere in particular. Whatever you ask, mix the sensations up. Sight, taste, smell, touch, hearing, and move them about in space and time until they do this themselves. They can do this, they are already imagining themselves somewhere else.

Whenever we do this in a show with perhaps over 200 children in the room, every hand goes up to share ideas. Magic happens, and we could go on for hours because they don't want to stop. We only give them five minutes however, then ask them to write down their ideas in the next five minutes instead of telling us. Every head down, writing frantically and quietly. Teachers are astonished and for us, it's always magical. 
There's no right of wrong with creativity, only what works and what doesn't work.

If your child is writing their story down, give them ten minutes then ask them to stop, and share with you what they have written. If they don’t want to stop, (smile and high five yourself) and let them go as long as they want to, then ask if you can read what they saw, or let them read it to you.

Be focussed, ask questions, be interested, be interactive, acknowledge. Don’t say ‘that was easy wasn’t it’ or ‘that was hard,’ or worse, ‘you should be able to do this.’ Just let them be with however it went. If they ask to do this exercise again during the day, just say yes. Never block creativity, or a desire to write, or draw what they have imagined in their heads.

It’s a good idea for you to do this with them as well, so if they want they can listen to what you imagined. And it will give you some insight into what they find easy and hard about doing this.

If they were simply talking and had ideas, you are already halfway there. There’s nothing missing from their imagination, it’s just a matter of encouraging them gently to take what they are saying and writing it down.

And remember: they can’t get this wrong! No spelling checks, grammar checks, no talking about untidy writing, just keep it all positive. It is the ideas we want at this stage, not how neat and tidy it looks. Our brains don’t work either neatly or tidily, so their ideas are not likely to come out in this way either.

If they are imagining and sharing different scenes with you, you should be very, very happy. When they’ve finished, find an activity they want to do afterwards that they enjoy, thereby reinforcing strong, happy connections with writing. If this is with you and being outside in nature, even better.

If your child wants to try again with a different picture; more success!

This is a brainstorm, an outpouring of creativity, a waterfall of ideas, a cascade of thoughts ... you get the idea.

We are not looking for a best selling story to come pouring out, just some fun, laughter and more ideas than they can ever use. And perhaps some unique insights into the workings of their imagination. And in amongst it all there will be some real creative gems, to either keep and craft further, or discard.

The plan when we do this in a show is for the children to pick an idea from their outpouring of ideas, something that gelled with them and made them want to think about more, and for them to further develop that idea to see where it takes them.

Of course there’s a requirement to spell correctly, get the grammar correct, write so others can read it, but for now the important thing is for them to get something down on record, because if the ideas don’t come, then there isn’t anything to work with or have fun developing. Teachers will be happy to teach them the writing rules, if they have something in writing to work with.

Day 2 - Moving Pictures

Using this picture, spend a few minutes looking for and brainstorming different ways the ship could have ended up in that position.

As soon as they are coming up with ideas and telling you what they are, stop them and ask them to write down FIVE ways in five minutes how the ship could have got stuck there.  Logical is fine, bizarre is great.

Use the stopwatch on your phone, or timer so they stop when the alarm goes off. If they haven’t written five, don’t worry. Prompt them to come up with the number they need to make up five by asking questions and dropping hints.

Make sure they get another WIN on this one. During any of these you can ask them to have a wander through the ship in their heads, up in the rigging, down in the hold, inside the cabins, like we did with the first picture in the first challenge.

What if there’s a treasure chest down there, or a parrot that keeps repeating the same sentence over and over again. What is it saying?

Young children do this naturally whenever they play and make up games. Part of the problem of interactive video and internet games is that the device provides all the stimulus. Children no longer activate, exercise or train their imaginations because it is all done for them in 3-D and full colour action animation.

Our imagination can create far beyond anything we see on a screen, if we just give it free reign to do so, and lots of practice.

Example? What is hidden UNDERNEATH this rock the ship is stranded on?
And below, climb inside this car and look around. Write 20 things can you find INSIDE the car below, out of sight.

     

Day 3 - Scrumdiddlyumptious

Before Day 3, make sure you have your child’s favourite treat to eat in the house. Whatever it is, don’t skimp. Let them know that when they have finished their Day 3 challenge this treat will be waiting for them to enjoy. This isn’t a reward for doing the challenge, it is to look at a favourite thing in a different way.

Have the treat they are going to eat or drink near them. Today’s writing challenge is to describe the treat by:

* Smell

* Sight (how does it look)

* Feel (get them to touch it) and how do they feel when they are eating/drinking this?

* Can they hear it (description, does it squish when they put a spoon in for example?)

* How do they imagine it tastes?

* Where else in the world or universe would they like to be eating or drinking this? On the moon, on a ship, on an island, a beach, fairground, classroom, Olympic stadium competing in the long jump while eating a mango. Encourage them to be creative.

Once they have written these down, immediately give them the treat. If they keep using similar words like ‘yummy’ that’s ok, but get them to find other words as well, and put them into a sentence. They don’t have to be long sentences. Spend up to ten minutes doing this.

Prompts: Ways to get them to come up with more than just ‘yummy.’

* Yes, what else. Can it talk, what is it saying?

* How would you describe this to an alien, or person who has never tasted it before?

* Remember this is opening up creative pathways they may not have used before, or not since they were tiny. If it’s difficult for them, that’s ok, just persevere.

* When they have finished the treat, ask them to write down five words to describe their experience. No more, no less.

For tomorrow, ask your child to bring their favourite small toy or pencil, a glue-stick, ruler, pen, whatever. It could be a stuffed animal, or any kind of inanimate object. Tomorrow we’re going on an adventure.

Day 4 - Your Toy Story

Today your child’s favourite toy will become the hero of a story. Always start simply, and we begin with telling the story as it comes out, not writing it down yet.

Like Day 1 you can follow this story exactly, use these as prompts if you need them, or let your child (and yourself) go on their own adventure. The example below is from a group of 7 year olds from a school in New Zealand, using a simple glue-stick.

Ask your child to imagine they are sitting at their desk when, without warning, their glue stick stands up, jumps off the desk and takes a flying leap out of an open window, flying across the nose of a startled teacher.

What happens next is just whatever they say happens. When writing a story there isn’t any space for judgements such as good and bad, or right and wrong. Instead there is simply what works for the story, and what doesn’t, so if they have an idea that doesn’t work for them it isn’t bad or wrong, it’s just not working. They can go back to it later if they want to and change it.

* The glue stick flies out of the window

* Lands in the garden

* Sees another glue stick (keeping it simple at the beginning will allow the imagination to slowly create something, rather than immediately imagining aliens or planets blowing up or being attacked by giant marshmallows. All this COULD happen but not yet, so build up slowly.)

* They go to the airport together because they want to go on holiday.

* Both glue sticks hide in a piece of luggage and smuggle themselves onto a plane going to a Caribbean Island.

* The plane crash lands into the sea.

* Everyone is rescued, but the luggage the glue sticks are hiding in float away.

* It washes up on a small island.

* They wait to be rescued, but can’t swim far because the island is surrounded by glue-stick eating sharks.

* One of the glue-sticks is lying in a hammock thinking about their problem, suddenly has a GREAT idea!

* What is the idea ….?

Let your child tell you the idea for a few seconds, then when they’re getting warmed up telling you what happens, stop them and ask them to write it down as quickly as they can instead, for just five minutes.

Again don’t worry about spelling, grammar, how neat it is, nothing except getting the words down non stop, quickly. Use a stopwatch again. Emphasise writing down whatever thoughts pop into their head, even if it doesn’t seem connected to the story that’s just happened, or if it seems very silly.

They are learning to copy down what they would say, instead of thinking about what to write. The distinction between the two is important, and for a writer provides creative freedom.

You have given them permission to be silly, so go along with it and allow them to be silly.

When five minutes are up, say stop. Some children won’t want to stop, others will. Either is fine. If they don’t want to stop, let them carry on until they feel they’ve finished.

Whatever they’ve written, acknowledge, talk about their ideas with and congratulate them. This isn’t about creating a best selling novel in five minutes, it is about playing with words, ideas, their imaginations and enjoying the process so they will be happy to do this again and again.

The more they do this the better they will get at it, like everything else they learn. It also gets them writing more than they have ever written, quickly. This in itself is a big confidence booster.

These five minute brainstorms are perfect for getting the brain warmed up before school, and before doing any kind of creative writing, as it gets the creative juices flowing.

Tomorrow ask your child to come in with a recipe …

We are going to create a recipe for a day as delicious as this cake looks!

Day 5 - Recipe for Fun

Take a recipe, with all the ingredients and HOW TO make the dish.

For a minute look through the recipe to make sure your child understands how it is set out and why.

Now ask them to write their own recipe, a recipe for the best time of their lives.

For example this could include:

Ingredients

People who make you laugh

Places that inspire

Favourite foods

Energetic games

Months that are best for playing outside

Favourite time of year

Best time of day

Scrumptious feelings

Method

Take a large helping of my family and a big pinch of myself and go to the theatre to watch a play, comedy, pantomime or comedian.

Stay in a very nice hotel.

Fly to a Greek Island the next morning, early Spring is best.

Go for a walk along the beach and have a swim as the sun is coming up.

Go to a restaurant overlooking the sea on a cliff in the early evening to watch the sun set, and order seafood, peach juice and lemon sorbet.

Play table tennis then a game of scrabble followed by a favourite movie.

Watch my favourite team win a big sporting event.

Fly to Venice and spend a month getting lost and exploring.

Buy a mystery ticket to somewhere in the world but not know where I’m going.

Find a job for a year testing and writing about the best waterslides in the world.

Go camping.

That would be one of my recipes for the time of MY life. Ask your child to write a recipe for themselves. It will also help you find out what their hidden dreams are, and how much they are thinking positively about their life and what’s possible. They can write as many recipes as they want to. It will also help them to BEGIN dreaming BIG.

 

Day 6 - Natural Wonders

Go outside today, somewhere in nature. It can be a beach, mountains, woods, countryside, river, lake, garden, or a balcony next to a plant if getting out of town is not possible today.

Mark out a small area. It might just be around one plant or flower, but no bigger than one metre square. Take a magnifying glass if you have one, and ask your child to explore as closely as they can the area they have chosen, then five minutes describing what they see.

This can include, but of course is not limited to, the feel of the dirt between their fingers, describing how a flower smells, or what an insect looks like and where you think it might be going, and what it’s doing. It’s important to draw on all five senses to create interesting, vibrant pieces of writing that your child can further develop and be proud of.

If you live somewhere that has dangerous creatures, insects and plants, please be aware of this and obviously don’t annoy poisonous and bitey creatures, or taste plants that could be poisonous. This is about observing and writing it all down.

And if during the five minutes of writing they instead describe a party the beetle is heading to, the rocket a spider is boarding in order to become the first bug in space, the movie a collection of ants are making about giant footprints in the sand or how a grasshopper has discovered the meaning of life hidden in plain sight under a blade of grass, let them get on with it.

This is where the magic of stories start and where ideas come from. It’s how Disney and Pixar make their living.

Day 7 - A Real Character

This might be still your first day, your seventh or perhaps you’ve taken a few weeks to get this far. Perfect, as long as they are working and have a positive effect on your child’s writing, because this will begin to spin off into boosting their confidence and self esteem.

Today’s challenge starts with this family:

Chloe and Family

* How many characters are there in this cartoon?

* Who are they. What are their names?

* Where are they. Building, city, country, planet, school, business?

* When are they. Day, month, year, time, season, occasion?

* What are they doing, what are they thinking?

* What do they keep behind the counter?

* Chloe has a doll, wearing a blue dress. What picture is on the FRONT of that dress?

* What is the man saying, the one in the picture muttering under his breath and trying to catch flies?

* Chloe has a pair of green shorts on. What is in her left pocket. What is in her right pocket? Back Pocket?

* Chloe's baby brother is crawling behind her, looking wet or dirty. What did he fall into, was he pushed, who pushed him, why, did he jump?

* He only has four fingers. Where's the other one?

* The man with the chopsticks, what is he doing? What ELSE could he be doing.

* What is Chloe looking at?

* The fly has been caught between the chopsticks. What is he saying?

Look at the answers you gave to these questions and choose one or two of these to create a scene for a story, including all these characters, or if you prefer just one or two.

Well done! That is the end of Day 7. These can be repeated as often as you like and each time there will be different, improved results. Ask your child to start collecting their favourite pictures on the computer, their phone or in an old fashioned scrapbook, and use these for story starters using the techniques above.              

The Secret Word Is YET

There is a ‘secret’ word that when added to a child’s vocabulary will empower them to never give up. How is it possible for one three letter word to be this powerful, and how is it a secret?

Firstly, it is not a secret, it just hasn’t been identified as being that important - yet. And that is the word we are talking about.

“YET”

Our brains are not only very powerful, they are also highly efficient.

When we say we can't do something, our brains are wired to be efficient and effectively close down that line of thinking.

I can’t learn languages? The brain thinks, ok, we won’t worry about that , we’ll just use the parts you DO want to keep.

Look at it this way. Don’t use it, you lose it, but by adding the word YET at the end of the sentence the brain thinks, well they haven’t said they can’t do this, they’ve just pointed out they are not able to do it YET. So, we’ll leave these synaptic pathways open to fill up later.

Yes, it IS that simple. Not everything that works needs to be complicated. For a child who has everything ahead of them, especially so.

This is the simplest and most effective way we know of explaining how powerful this little word is, and also why.

So whenever you hear your child use the word ‘can’t’, add the word ‘yet’ to it each time. Start using it yourself too. Explain why you are doing this and they’ll get into the habit of doing the same. This also provides room to expand on the conversation, whereas using the word ‘can’t’ doesn’t do that. All it does is turn into a “Yes you can,” “No I can’t” argument.

Just ask what they think they need, in order to do whatever it is they feel is difficult for them. This will get them coming up with ideas that you can add to, and come up with a plan of who to ask and where to go to find out.

Search engines are today’s go to place for most information, but there is nothing like finding a real person in real time who shares the same interest as your child in order to share that passion and knowledge with them. If this can be found in a book, get the book as well.

Because, it is never too young to discover, start learning and pursuing what you are passionate about. Of course they don’t have to, and it can take decades to find your real passion with many starts and stops along the way, but some children find their passion very early and are never swayed from it.

For those children the earlier they start the better, and more confident they will become.

Example: If your child talks about being a zookeeper, do what you can to find a zookeeper for them to talk to and stay in touch with, so they can talk about what it takes to get there, what qualifications they need and even start networking with contacts. Is there a scheme each summer for ‘Youth at the Zoo’ volunteers they could join? What can they do immediately to begin their journey?

It is the same with every profession, job and business. If your child is interested in business, find local successful business people you can trust and who are excited to offer mentoring. If they want to be a sportsperson, encourage it and find the people who can inspire and mentor them.

People are generally good and if they love what they do, they also love to share their experience and skills with others who share the same passions.

Go out and find great coaches together, learn about nutrition and training appropriate to their age and competitions they can aim for.

A young child’s main job in life is to play and have fun. That’s it. They are doing all the learning they need to do, but as they get older and especially in an era where information is so freely available, an abundance of information and opportunities are available to create any future they want.

They may as well start now rather than later. The question shouldn’t be, ‘what are you going to be when you grow up,’ as if by growing up they turn into a new person. We don’t change, we are the same person, we just get bigger.

So, it seems strange that when presented with any roadblock, not just writing, that so many of us give up and say, “I’m not good at this” or “I can’t do that. I’m useless at it.”

To underline this very important point, I have a friend who told me a short story about herself ten years ago. This helped me understand the obstacles in our path so much better. She is 95 years old.

Elizabeth was having an exhibition of her artwork and I asked her how long she had been painting. “Five years,” she said.

I looked at her, then at her outstanding work, dumbfounded.

She explained. “When I was six years old we were in the classroom drawing our pets, and I was drawing my cat. My friend who was sitting next to me leaned across to look at what I was doing and started laughing at my picture.

“That’s useless that is” she said loudly. “You can’t draw, it doesn’t look anything like a cat, more like a donkey!” And she grabbed my picture and waved it around; everyone half looked, and they all laughed.”

“That’s awful,” I said.

“Yes it was. So, I decided when I was six that I couldn’t draw, and from then on I barely tried at school, and would only draw if I was at home by myself, and I never showed anyone else what I’d done. I didn’t draw with my children, not even with my grandchildren or great grandchildren.

Then I was eighty years old and sitting outside a little cafe by myself. The waiter had left a notepad and pencil for taking orders on my table accidentally, at the same time I noticed a pretty black cat just like the one I had as a child, sitting on a door step across the street sunning itself.

Without thinking I picked up the pencil and started drawing the cat on a sheet of the notebook, and I’d just finished when an old friend came up behind me and exclaimed VERY loudly, enough for me to get noticed, ‘Oh my goodness, I never knew you were an artist, that is wonderful!’

I was embarrassed and quickly turned the piece of paper over and told her that I couldn’t draw, I had never been able to draw and it was just a bit of rubbish, a doodle, I’d throw it away.

She said ‘You will do no such thing’ and took the paper before I could do anything with it. My friend spent the next half an hour arguing with me about how good the picture was while I adamantly told her it was rubbish.

‘Well let’s find out shall we?’ she finally said, exasperated, and crossed the road to knock on the door of where the cat was sitting. I was mortified, and looking back I think I was waiting for the owner of the house to come out and tell me off for drawing such a  horrible picture of her cat. Silly isn’t it?

Well, I didn’t get told off. The lady gasped, took the small piece of paper and when my friend told her I’d drawn it, she came over to me and offered to pay me for it.

I can’t ever remember being more astonished about anything.”

“Did you take the money?” I asked.

“No, but the lady insisted and pushed a large note into my hand and said it was worth every penny.”

“What happened then?” I asked.

"I became an artist. No, funnily enough I WAS already an artist and had been my whole life, I just didn’t know. I started selling my pictures quickly and easily for more money than I’d ever dreamed of, and even started having little exhibitions, like this one.”

“That’s an incredible story,” I told her.

“Yes it is, but what is more incredible, sad, ironic and completely unacceptable but what can I do about it now, is that I had spent my entire life to 80 years of age believing that I couldn’t draw, all based on the decision made by another six year old.

Would YOU follow the advice of a six year old, about anything?

It’s unlikely..

We all do this. We make a decision about what we can or can't do, usually when we are very young, then we spend the rest of our lives collecting evidence to prove ourselves right instead of learning ways to do it.

Whatever it is you say you’re not good at, when did you first say this, and what caused it? It's a great question to ask ourselves, because we have all given up on things we once believed ourselves capable of. It is easy to pass on these doubts to our children.

So, when you have success with your child over the next few days, who may be struggling now with writing, and they see that they CAN write, they DO have good imaginations and that it IS just a matter of practice and learning some of the tricks, ask them what else they have given up on already, that they may have to re look at.

And to show them they are not alone in this, give them examples of things you gave up on as well, that you still have time to relook at.

 Yes, do the same yourself.

There is nothing we can’t learn how to do, especially if we remember loving doing it in the past, or have always wanted to try.

If it is a major sport we love, we don’t all have to be Olympians in order to enjoy or gain some fulfilment from it. If you always wanted to go on stage but were too scared, take this challenge on and join a theatre group. This would be a big, positive step in the right direction at any age, and to positively role-model the power of ‘yet’ to your child.

You don’t have to start as a lead actor, work backstage if you like which is great fun and a challenge too, and slowly work your way up to auditioning or volunteering for small parts.

Each time we take on a new challenge like this, no matter how small, it builds our self confidence and belief in ourselves. We become comfortable, then we can stretch even more.

As a young child I went on stage a couple of times in plays.

Once playing a drunk in Sodom before the flood, another as a third goat trying to get on board the Ark but being kicked off (I snuck aboard while Noah wasn’t looking, in case you were worried) and once as the shepherd who said, “Come, let us go straight to Bethlehem and see this thing the Lord hath made known to us.”

Yes, I still remember the one line because I practiced it a thousand times.

But somewhere between primary and high school I lost my nerve, refusing to participate in anymore performances and hiding whenever it looked like being ‘my turn.’

This happened after auditioning for a part in a Gilbert and Sullivan performance at school and being laughed at as soon as I opened my mouth to sing a song, before being sent on my way.

Something else may well have been going on, but that was the experience that stayed with me, and helped me create the decisions I made about what I could and couldn’t do on a stage. Even as an adult arriving in Australia at 25 I attempted to overcome this fear by joining a theatre group, getting a part twice and both times dropping out.

That seems crazy to me now, having been on hundreds of stages and loving every minute of it, but I remember the feeling of terror at the thought of doing anything in front of an audience, and it paralysed me. And I remember the relief, not regret, at having dropped out.

What changed? Simple. When it came to doing something that mattered at a deep level, something I loved doing that made a positive difference in the world, this would override any feelings of self-doubt or fear I had in making a fool of myself.

It was all bigger and more important than how I felt about it, and suddenly it felt natural.

I still get nervous and it would be weird if I didn’t, but for a different reason. I get nervous now because every time I go on stage there is something at stake, and I am playing to have the biggest possible impact on children, parents and teachers lives as I can.

This matters, so of course I’m nervous but much more than that, I am excited to be doing what I’m doing, every time. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.

The word ‘can’t’ is a destructive word in our language, and plays a large part in many abandoned dreams.

Always adding the word YET whenever your child says ‘I can’t’ will neutralise the negative and create possibilities in ways no other word can.

 Can you draw a really cool cartoon monkey? Not YET!

Top 12 Tips to Happy Children.

This … is not just about creative writing is it?

As transformational as the material in this ebook can be in this area, it's not even about the school work itself.

Yes we want our children to do well academically, but this is becoming less and less important in an age of online technology and a world where jobs and business opportunities are constantly changing.

Youth suicide, so long a taboo subject in the press in Australia and New Zealand especially, is now being openly discussed and treated as the global emergency it is, mostly in so called ‘first world’ countries.

Youth suicide has become the number one cause of death in young people, and this is the main reason we started doing the work we do in both schools and communities worldwide, and why this book had to be created and put out there in the world.

What we all desperately want more than anything else for our children is for them to be happy, healthy and to love what they do in life.

If they have these three ingredients in abundance then the rest of the recipe for creating a life they love will naturally follow, and when bad things happen to and around them (which they will, and we can’t protect them) they are going to be much better equipped to manage and survive those moments - IF they are doing things in life they love, and are healthy and happy to begin with.

That’s a strong foundation and platform on which to stand.

So, following are 12 tips we know work for children of all backgrounds, cultures and ages.

Of course it’s not everything, each child is different and their needs vary, but if each of these are presented consistently with unconditional love, kindness, patience and the understanding that children are only just learning how to function in this highly complex world, then the breakthroughs will come fast with them.

Children are NEW people, get scared easily and over react, can be wary, confused, sad for no reason and happy for no reason, will learn to manipulate to feel safe by copying what we do but will find a way to PLAY under every and all circumstances the world will throw at them.

 1. Memories

 “I remember …”

What memories would you like your children to look back on?

What are you committed to your children remembering from their childhood?

The discipline, the stresses of life passed down, money worries, lack of time?

We can’t stop 'life' from happening to us and nor should we, but we can manage our responses and ensure we spend quality, lengthy time with our children.

I remember walks in the woods with my dad, picking blackberries, playing football in the park, being taught to row on a lake, made-up stories that went on until I fell asleep, being told silly jokes that were so funny I laughed until I cried.

Late night treats from the ice-cream van that dad snuck up to me in bed when my mum wasn't looking, teaching me how to train our dog, collecting conkers by throwing a big stick into a tree and running away as we were pelted by falling conkers and dodging a large stick, visits to the cinema to see magical, loud, exciting, funny movies, eating a Choc-Ice at the interval and being treated to fish and chips at the end.

He must have been tired after working as a journalist all day with a chronic heart condition, but he made that effort, he created these memories, and I remember.

He died from a heart attack when I was 14, but he had already given me memories I have treasured all my life. Perhaps more important than even this vital and vibrant treasure trove, he taught me to be a good dad so I would know how, and would be able to create wonderful moments and memories for my own children, and magical memories for me.

And enabled me to create special memories and skills for the tens of thousands of children we’ve presented to. What a legacy he gave me.

What do you remember? What do you wish you couldn't remember, and what memories do you WISH you had?

Those first years are precious and irreplaceable. So this week try:

* Go for a nature walk with your child.

* Go together to a cafe and treat yourselves.

* Start reading to them every night. Don’t miss one, even if you are tired, even if they are asleep.

* Paint and draw a giant picture together on the biggest piece of paper or surface you can find, no rules.

* Plant a tree. Plant several trees. Make planting trees 'your thing' and plant some every week.

* Make up five new things to do together every day. Every moment a child is learning; from you, from their environment and from those around them. As the author Dan Millman says, 'There are no ordinary moments,' so don't waste them.

2. Play, Play, Play …

 “Every child learns at their own pace, so don’t compare …”

Why do we enjoy testing children so much? To see where they're at, what they know, how much they know, what they don't know and compare it all with other children of their age. From this we take an average, and from then on our children are below or above average and sometimes, sit on the average line.

This is the most misleading thing we have done to our children in order to measure their progress or lack of. It measure nothing about their social awareness and abilities, their compassion, people skills, their day to day interactions and kindness to others. Nor does it measure their ability to problem solve in the real world they love in.

The best thing we can do for them is to provide the space, time, environment and relevant stimulation to PLAY. This is their key learning time especially in the early years. Nothing else comes close in effectiveness.

Allow them to get dirty, play in the mud, roll down hills, jump in puddles, get sandy and covered in glue, flour, paint.

Our friend's daughter tipped a sack of flour all over the kitchen floor and she found her playing in it. Instead of shouting, telling her off, ordering her to clean it up, she got down on the floor with her and they began playing, making patterns, shapes, drawing characters and writing letters until they were both covered.

Then they had a shower, did the washing, cleaned the kitchen together.

This isn't possible all the time,  and you don't want your kitchen turned into an alien planet every day, but recognise the opportunities when they happen and instead of getting angry, get involved.

All children play. We all played too, and should do it still. All animals play, and that's the clue to how this works.

Animals and children play in order to learn. Of course they're having fun, and that is possibly the most underestimated ingredient in education. They play, they make mistakes, learn from them, make mistakes again, learn again and move on to the next mistake in order to learn some more.

When we take play away we also take away children's ability to assess risk, to problem solve; we stop areas of their brain from branching out and expanding the imagination. Being able to think and problem solve is our biggest asset, yet we stunt this ability by reducing instead of increasing playtime.

If your children are not talking as much as you think they should be, walking, running, using hand/eye coordination effectively, then as long as there isn't a medical reason for these just relax, let them play and know that by doing so they are actually learning to do the very things you wish they were doing - in their own time.

If your child is under eight years old, then restrict their access to screens; an ipod, iphone, TV or computer. There are sound, scientific reasons for this, which we will expand further in the next tip.

3. Emotions …

"So often, children are being punished for just being human. They are not expected to have grumpy moods, bad days, disrespectful tones or bad attitudes. Yet, we adults have them all the time. None of us are perfect. We must stop holding our children to a higher standard of perfection than we can attain ourselves."    Rebecca Eanes

 “Why the sad face? Come one, cheer up …”

It's easy to do this. Sometimes, we're just not OK. We see children as playful, laughing, worry free, not a care in the world

Of course this is far from the truth, but because maybe we look back at childhood and cherry pick memories, or because we can’t see anything for our kids to be too worried about, we somehow think they should be happy and carefree all the time.

And perfectly obedient. But is that what we really want? A 'yes sir, no sir' child with no rebelliousness or curiosity won’t last long in the game of life, and why would anyone want to bring a child up that way; unless that is how WE were brought up, and that's all we know?

Let your child debate, argue, and demonstrate how this is done by staying calm, being reasonable, looking for compromises and LISTENING to their opinions and points of view. Setting an example while having disagreements with partners by being respectful.

This is not a contest, it is never You v’s Them, rather it's them testing their thoughts in the real but safe family world before they go and try them out for real. Be that safe place for them to learn and express themselves.

The same for their emotions. They will get angry, sad, frustrated, disillusioned, and it would be strange if they didn't. These emotions are normal, they should not be suppressed. Within reason these emotions should be visible for them to see in us too.

Anger with violence is NEVER ok, and if that happens seek guidance and help straight away.

There are times when they need to listen and obey quickly without argument. Before a trip overseas I went to the park with my then nearly three year old and trained him to STOP on command, figuring there might come a time when this would be useful - or life-saving. It quickly became a game.

STOP, GO, of course it became a game, how could it not? But he followed the rules and over the next couple of weeks I'd try it out in various situations, and every time he responded correctly, freezing on the spot when being commanded to STOP. It was a laugh, it was fun.

Passers-by would occasionally stop and exclaim, “He’s not a dog!” But he would just ‘Woof’ and reply, “Yes I am.”

The rest of the time we just talked normally, and it was sometimes a couple of days before I suddenly called the command out without warning, but it worked. He remembered.

Forward three months and we're standing on an Underground Station in London with a train hurtling into the tunnel. He lost his grip on a ticket he was holding in one hand and it got sucked towards the tracks, while his other hand suddenly twisted out from mine and he ran to get it before it flew in front of the train.

My three year old son was less than two seconds away from being hit by a train. We both had a split second to react.

As he reached the edge of the platform and the ticket fluttered across the oncoming train, I just had time to yell STOP! He stopped, frozen to the spot, and the train shot past.

He turned, laughed and ran back, while enough adrenalin to power a small country flooded through me. So yes, there are times when there should be no negotiation and a child needs to defer to their parents, but it isn't as often as we think. 

Children are part of the household and the family; they have thoughts, ideas, things they want to communicate, and these are all valid. If you need them to be aware of specific things, then tell, train, explain and demonstrate. Repeat. Then keep repeating until it’s set as a foundation. Stay calm. Sometimes they will get sad about things we can or can’t understand. They will get angry, frustrated, but that's just them being human, and they're still learning. We all are.

4. Parents Really Matter - it’s the biggest job you’ll ever do

 Children will mimic everything they see you do, hear you say, every reaction and sound you make. Without even noticing, most of the time you are under the most powerful of human microscopes, and everything you are doing and how you’re being is being copied, recorded, memorised and embedded. It is also being reported to their friends at school and on permanent record online.

While this is all true, it doesn't mean that your child will grow up exactly like you. More a combination of you, your partner, close friends and relations, throwbacks in their genes plus their own spark of inner madness and personality. BUT, what you do and say MATTERS, more than you can ever imagine.

So, be reasonable, polite and respectful. Don't mock or become bitter, instead help create a confident child who knows the world and the people in it aren't perfect, but also understand they are powerful and creative people already, and can choose to change the world if they choose to.

Because it takes extraordinary people be change our extraordinary world.

Share mealtimes whenever possible, take them out to dinner from an early age and demonstrate manners to them, go out to cafes, out shopping, into museums, art galleries, to theatres, cinemas, anywhere to expose their minds to cultural experiences. Ask them questions about what they see, feel and hear and accept their responses as a natural part of their development. Ask their opinion.

Tell stories and encourage them to do the same. About your life, things that happened when they were little, make up silly stories too. Story telling has been going on around campfires since humans could first communicate; it’s important.

In some venues you take them to accept they may become bored quickly, but also don't be surprised if they become so engrossed they won’t want to leave. We are all different, and visiting a place at an early age can plant the seed of future adventures with no sign of what is to come.

Example? My daughter was three years old, picture below left, it was raining and we went along to a nearby sailing ship, a replica of the Brig Amity in dry dock. This was the ship that brought the first settlers to Western Australia. It was a cold winter's Sunday and we wanted a little adventure. I took a photo …

 17 years later, above right, she was at the helm of a tall ship off Tasmania, and a year after that sailing from South Africa, up the African coast, across and through the Caribbean and up to Canada. Five months working on this magnificent sailing ship, from a three year old dreamer to fully grown adventurer - because the idea had set, and she wanted it enough.

Always tell them their dreams are attainable, if they want them enough.

Parenting REALLY matters! “The study of 70,000 children since 1946 found …” ​

A Ted Talk parenting video we think you’ll love.

5. Read To Your Children, Every Night

 Me: "What shall we read tonight?"

Three year old: "Read the one about the Tiger Dragon!"

 Read to them, at any time but especially at night in bed, before they go to sleep. For bonding, share time, physical and emotional connection and security. For their reading and understanding skills, imagination development, knowledge, the sharing of laughter and silliness and their overall education. Because it's FUN, it's magical and they love it, and you will too.

And don't get too strict on when to stop. Go over time, bend the rules sometimes especially during holidays. Read until they fall asleep, mark the page and then carry on reading while they fall deeper to sleep.

Try different voices, accents and sounds for each character. It doesn't matter if you're not a natural mimic, just change your voice and their imagination will do the rest.

Magic happens when you read to children, especially at night. I had the Faraway Tree read to me when I was six. The magic of these stories stuck with me my whole life, but I had forgotten what the book was called until I recognised it one day in a bookshop, when my children were about the same age I had been.

I only just had enough money but didn't hesitate in buying it. This book started a new phase of reading at night, with lowered lights, meditation music playing softly, snuggled up with one either side and falling heart and soul again into the Magic Faraway Tree. A safe, kind, warm place for the spirit to always go back to.

We don't just recommend reading to your children, we cannot think of one valid excuse not to. And do it from birth, or from whenever you are reading this. I read to them from as close to conception as we could work out, and from when they were born the sound of my voice instantly soothed them. By four years old I had a conversation that went like this:

Me: "What would you like to read tonight?"

4 year old: "Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy again!"

And make up stories. You might not think you're good at this, but once you start you'll get hooked, and if you ever get stuck ask your child what THEY think happened next, go along with their idea and adapt it appropriately. However wild and bizarre their thought process might be.

 Be prepared to remember some of these improvised stories too, because they will ask for them months later. In fact, write them down and turn them into a collection of short children’s stories for them to keep, and read to their own children. Turn them into a Kindle book.

Capture these memories. I wish I'd thought of doing this years ago.

6. I Love You, But I Don't Love Your Behaviour

 Praise. We can’t get enough of that, nor can your children. Praise can’t be overdone, however only give it when it's due. If it hasn't been earned for a while in your eyes, look for little things to praise and you will find more than enough.

Of course you unconditionally love your child, that's a given, but you don't have to love everything they do.

Some things you might find inappropriate but nonetheless very funny. My son was a smart child, and very funny but in an adult kind of way. He would make comments to authoritative adults sometimes that were very funny, IF they'd come from another adult and not a precocious 8 year old.

He had to be taught to think before speaking sometimes, to share his humour sure but maybe later, at home in private. Now he has the same sense of humour as an adult and it's hilarious. Learning context takes time and practice.

Everything is something for children to play with. Sometimes they will know it's inappropriate and are just testing where those boundaries are, other times they won’t know and aren't being naughty, just playful and curious.

The world through a child's eyes is a playground of colours, sounds, touchy-feely sensations, smells, tastes and INSTINCT. How many times have you watched children change tack in an instant, moving like a flock of birds or changing the game as if joined telepathically?

Everywhere you take them is a prospect for a game or an adventure, so whenever possible play along. Take a notebook, sketch pad, camera, something to record sounds, make up stories about the things you see and the people you go past.

OK, that one can backfire.

I used to play a game with my three year old. If one of us would point at, say, a house, one of us would say, "Look, there's a house!" The other one's job was to shout, "NO IT ISN'T, that's a melon!" or whatever the first thing was that came into our heads. It created a lot of laughter, and laughter is, of course, awesome.

Travelling in Europe, specifically on a train in South Wales heading to Llanelli my place of birth, I was talking to a lovely elderly lady with the 'Welsh-est' of accents. Delighted to be talking to her, I turned to my son who was looking out of the window as Wales sped past, and introduced them. "This is Mrs Jones, Gareth, she's from Llanelli, where I was born."

"NO SHE'S NOT, "he shouted, She's a cow!"

7. Get A Pet - And A Puppet -

 "PLEASE can I have a dog, cat, rabbit, hamster, guinea pig, fish, horse, elephant, scorpion, snake, bird, dinosaur …?"

Learning about unconditional love, of patience, fear, grief, loss are invaluable life lessons and it's hard to think of another way they can be taught other than to get a pet, and have your child be responsible for every aspect of the pet's care. That's not to say they have to pay vet bills, nor does it mean they should be expected to instinctively KNOW what to do and how to do everything concerning their pet.

They can’t know all that, no more than we should be expected to know everything about being a parent, simply because the Universe arbitrarily presented us with a child.

But it does mean if the dog howls or barks at night, they can be the one to go and calm it down. They need to feed them, provide clean bowls, clean water regularly, give them exercise if required, play, spend time with them. Clean up after them, and clean the environment in which they live.

Your child needs to be responsible for training them, if appropriate, and learn as much about their new pet as possible, from the internet, from books, documentaries. Having a pet is as much about education as it is about having fun and a companion.

And they learn about friendship, forgiveness, mood swings, boundaries, conflict resolution, just about any situation they come across as a human will be mirrored in some way by interactions they have with their pets.

IF ... they are given the responsibility of looking after them, and understand the animal's welfare depends on them. Monitor them yes, and fill in any care gaps as they happen, but make sure they get to do the majority of the work, and therefore get the rewards of doing so.

And ... not just any animal, and let them help choose. This is going to be an addition to their family that they get a say in. So, it's also about making choices, trusting their instinct while testing that against their common sense and logic. All new and untested and about to be sharpened by the experience of being responsible for a new life.

Are they up to it? Yes, definitely, with your guidance, and this is another important part of life to share with them.

If getting a pet isn't possible where you are, aim at moving somewhere it is possible and in the meantime get a fish, and have your child be responsible for it's health and well-being. Learning to feed, clean and maintain the good health of a fish properly is every bit as challenging and interesting as doing this with any other creature.

In our accommodation business we have an angel fish called Charlie. He comes to the side of the tank and I'm certain he's talking to everyone who comes across to say hello to him. He likes having his tummy rubbed through the tank. No, he REALLY does!

Kids are enchanted and adults are astonished. I stick pictures of other fish and environments on the side of the tank. We also turn the page of a book each day and tell everyone Charlie can read. He's nearly finished Harry Potter, and we're starting him this week on Moby Dick. Fun is to be found everywhere. And FUN is FREE. A pet or not, buy or make hand puppets too. More fun than you can point a paw at.

8. Don't Do Everything For Them

“Help with the washing up please?”

“Do I have to?”

One of the things we do in our life is run a 100 bed accommodation business for backpackers in Australia. For the past nine years, between touring schools and running workshops, we live and work our business, winning the best in Australia award and meeting thousands of awesome people of all ages and from all cultures, around the world.

Most people are wonderful. They really are. We rarely talk about the awesome people of course, because nice people having a good time are not where the great stories come from.

These few 'other' stories come mostly from young people, 18 - 35, who don't have much idea about how to look after themselves. They will leave a mug, a plate, their whole dinner, lying around for someone else, presumably their mum, to come and pick up, wash everything and put it away. We end up doing it for them, because it's not possible to teach in a day what they haven't managed to learn in over 20 years.

A man in his 20’s toasting bread in a microwave for twenty minutes and ignoring it when it catches fire actually happened, and his explanation that this is always the way he cooks toast, is real.

So please, do us, yourself and ESPECIALLY your child the BIGGEST favour, and have THEM contribute to jobs around the house from the earliest age. In this way it becomes second nature to them, and they would no more think of leaving a sink full of dirty dishes than leaving the toilet un-flushed ....ok, bad example, they do that as well and claim, “That’s not mine.” Don't let them get away with it!

Your child is in training. If you don't train them they won’t learn, or rather they will learn that it's ok to leave things to other people, and that taking responsibility is optional.

It isn't, not for a life that works.

I was lucky, but I didn't feel lucky at the time. My mum had me shelling peas on the doorstep outside when I was 4 years old (one pea for dinner, two for me, it took a long time), helping to wash dishes while standing on a stool as far back as I can remember and rolling pastry out on a work top while sitting on it. The work top AND the pastry.

As an extra incentive 'helping' she let me cut off all the loose pastry from what she was making, roll it out and fill it with my favourite jam, before rolling it all up and calling it a jam roly-poly.

I watched this delicious treat brown and bubble through the oven window until it was ready, and then I was tasked with carefully taking it out with a cloth (burning myself less and less each week) and eating it all myself.

I learned valuable life lessons, such as 'things are hot when they come out of the oven' and 'jam inside a roly-poly is boiling liquid, even if you stand around letting it cool down for nearly a whole minute.'

Also, boiling-hot jam blisters tongues, and hurts. Obvious now, but then I was learning and being allowed to learn at my own speed, and through my mistakes while still being watched and cared for.

I never forget how lucky I was as a child, and that not everyone can look back on such nurturing memories and experiences. So for your children, help create those memories. Make chores fun and they stop being chores.

Imagination is everything. What looks like a routine vacuum of the floor to you, can be a giant monster from space with suction power, or a friendly cleaning Alien who can only ever breathe in. Give them an opening, they will gleefully jump in.

9. Laughter

 "Humanity has unquestionably one really effective weapon—laughter."

 Laughter is one of the fundamental expressions of life; we don’t think about it much, except when we’ve laughed until we can’t breathe, or that teeny tiny little bit of wee escapes …

We associate laughter with humans, however research has repeatedly shown that all mammals laugh, not just humans. It also shows that you’re 30 times more likely to laugh if you are sharing the joke with someone else. Laughter and children, the BEST combination you can have for happy, well-adjusted children.

We’ve all heard that laughter is the best medicine, but is there any basis of science behind this? Yes, surprisingly there is.

According to the Mayo Clinic the benefits of laughter can be categorised as short term and long term.

In the short term, laughter can:

*  Stimulate many organs. Laughter Increases your intake of oxygen-rich air, stimulates your heart, lungs and muscles, and increases the endorphins that are released by your brain.

*  Activate and relieve your stress response. Laughter will fire up and then cool down your stress response, increase your heart rate and blood pressure, leading to feeling calm and relaxed.

*  Soothe tension. Laughing will stimulate circulation, muscle relaxation, help reduce physical symptoms of stress.

And in the longer term, laughter will:

* Improve your immune system. Our negative thoughts manifest into chemical reactions that can affect our whole body by bringing more stress into your system and decreasing your immunity.

* In contrast, positive thoughts can actually release neuropeptides that help fight stress and potentially more-serious illnesses.

* Relieve pain. Laughter may ease pain by causing the body to produce its own natural painkillers.

* Increase personal satisfaction. Laughter can also make it easier to cope with difficult situations. It also helps you connect with other people.

* Improve your mood. Laughing releases endorphins, our natural ‘feel-good’ chemicals in our body.

We see the world in four dimensions, trains of thoughts that segway off from each other faster than the speed of light, and that can spin to a stop when they hit a wall of funny.

So next time your children are feeling stressed, get angry or frustrated about something, distraction with laughter works. Not every time, but be persistent. They may still choose to look grumpy after laughing, but it cant last because they won’t remember why. Your children will laugh naturally and freely. It is very good for them, and us.

Laughing brings JOY. Do everything you can to bring your children joy, for their physical, mental and educational well-being.    (From: The Gifted Bear)

"Humanity has unquestionably one really effective weapon—LAUGHTER."

10. Love Is Unconditional. Be Kind

We say to children "Whatever your parents are saying to you means only one thing. They love you, and want you to have a great life ..."

This one will be confronting for many parents to hear, because we hear it so often, and we hear it in all schools regardless the socio economic area children are in. From the most expensive and exclusive to the most 'difficult' schools and every school in between, reactions are the same.

We know we love our children unconditionally, right? We know it, so our children know it too, don't they? They must do, especially because if we tell them over and over.

Well, they don’t. At the end of every show at least 80% of our young audience don't believe it. Their disbelief at this assertion is so strong they get vocal, argue the point, share examples and evidence that THEIR parents don't love them.

Does that bother you? It bothers me, deeply. The teachers are never as surprised as we hope they are.

I use different examples of what a parent might be saying, and how they say it. From, "Don't you ever, EVER use my toothbrush to clean THAT dog's teeth again!" to "I don't care HOW long it takes, you are NOT moving from that room until it's clean. I can wait all day ... etc etc."

Both these, and hundreds of others, only ever mean ONE thing: "I love you, and all I want is for you to have a great life." It doesn’t sound or look like that, but this is what’s going on.

And it’s that's line that gets them started, and arguing, every time.

I have to point out in every show that their parents haven't been parents before, that they are learning as they go, they certainly haven't had THEM at their age before, so even though they come across as confident they're often just winging it, making it up as they go along. That's why they shout sometimes, that's why they sometimes get it wrong and don't want to admit it.

Silence.

"Think about it," I have to insist, pushing the point home. "Your parents are simply YOU, only a bit bigger, and older. They haven't been to parent university, they haven't got qualifications to be a parent, it all just 'happened' and here they are, with you at your age and them at their age, and they don't know what's going to happen next.

And they're scared they're going to get it all wrong and mess you up in some way. Sometimes they find it hard to breathe, because they are so scared of getting it wrong and love you so much. That's why they overreact." 
They’re wavering now.

"But, what they KNOW beyond any doubt, is that they love you unconditionally, and will lay down their lives for you in a heartbeat if they need to. Don't believe me, just ask them, tonight when you get home."

It's a powerful way to finish a show, which until this moment has been fun, full of laughter and has taken them from "I can't" to "I CAN!" in in so many ways, when they discover what they thought was impossible is actually EASY. Not only that, they have access and tools to make ANYTHING possible if they want it enough.

 That energy in the room is VERY exciting to be a part of, so it is into this space I throw them the 'unconditional love' idea. "Parents love you unconditionally."

"Oh yeah," comes the chorus, "So why do they yell, and smack us so much?"

I am not going to get into a debate about smacking or not smacking our children here. It is a discussion that always gets heated and it's rare that anyone will change their long standing beliefs on the subject, whatever their standpoint.

But please consider, and look for the peer-reviewed research, whatever your personal experience is. Read the research papers on this subject with an open mind. We haven't found a situation yet that can’t be solved first and last with KINDNESS, and no research paper has ever been written anywhere in the world that advocates smacking children as a form of effective discipline.

KINDNESS. Every issue, problem, conflict, misunderstanding in our world can be solved with this simple, universally recognised idea. Consistently teach KINDNESS in all things and it will stick. And it starts with us. Be Kind. They're young, they're learning, and they are the best thing that'll ever happen to us. Never forget.

11. The Small Stuff

 “Don’t sweat it.”

If you wouldn't berate another adult in a supermarket, don't verbally do so with your child.

Children are already people. They are not going to grow up into some another person one day. Treat them like people and talk to them as you would considerately talk to someone else; with mutual respect and understanding.

Being a parent is the ultimate life lesson in patience and compassion. Compassion for them, for yourself, for you all as a family doing the very best you can to keep them healthy, safe and happy in a world that seems bent on doing them harm.

Of course 'the world' is not intentionally doing that, it’s just doing it’s ‘thing,’ but when we have so much at stake (and the stakes don't get any higher than the welfare of our children) it often feels that the world is just out to get us.

This message cannot be overdone, but there's a good reason for that. It is inside the small, everyday 'stuff' where deep love grows and is nurtured.

Catch these moments and savour them, because as you have heard a thousand times before, these moments will soon be gone - time goes so fast.

Enjoy the little things and don't get hung up on the small stuff they may be doing wrong in your eyes. The small stuff can be dealt with slowly over time. It means when there's a real issue to be addressed, they won’t be switched off from years of "Don't do this" and "Don't do that." Instead, they'll listen.

12. Family Traditions

 “What connects us, holds us together.”

Family traditions and routines. These connections are shared within the family and provide a sense of belonging, trust and nurture. The way you celebrate times like Christmas, birthdays, holidays, weekends, anniversaries, New Year’s Eve - these moments stay with children forever. They matter. Even the way we go about our daily routines such as mealtimes, bedtime, outings, are unique and for many reasons, memorable.

Keep these traditions alive in your own family and combine yours with your partner’s to create new traditions.

Write down a list of traditions you loved as a child and helped you to feel loved and cared for. Start repeating these now with your own children, and get creative with your partner to combine both yours and theirs.

Make them up. If you are a big fan of mince pies then before Christmas get your children into the kitchen and learn to make mince pies together. If you have memories of having hot pies, cakes, pastries, bread straight from the oven as a child you will still remember the smell, and the impatience of not being able to eat them straight away.

Excuses such as, 'It'll give you a sore tummy," or, "Wait until it cools down or you'll burn your tongue" just didn't wash.

Who cares about boiling hot jam squirting into your mouth, when it smells SO good!?

Start a tradition now. Today.

Examples? A walk in the park on Christmas morning, knocking on the doors of elderly neighbours at Christmas with plates of warm mince pies. In Australia we used to go to a Boxing Day Test match, playing cricket and sharing time with friends and family. Traditions can be at any time of year, so make them up as you go along. The best ones will stick, perhaps for decades and future generations.

 It Takes A Village…

This is our virtual village. What it lacks in cute cottages, wells with fresh water, spring fairs, community circles and a village square in which to meet and solve issues, we make up for in experience, knowledge based on science, peer reviewed research and a healthy dose of common sense, inspired solutions and most importantly, fun and laughter.

Oh, and luck. Don’t ever underestimate the power of good luck, created by our own actions, intentions and words. Serendipity is at work here, and choosing to work through the ideas in this book with your child is part of a positive, ongoing change in our world.

Contact details - Danny and Paula: imagination@dannyandpaula.com and inside our Facebook Group

Bonus!

Below find 50 writing prompts and ideas for quick 5-20 minutes warm up exercises. These will spark ideas and warm up your child’s imagination before any activity.

First, as promised, there are also some quickly drawn cartoons created from stories written during five minute challenges around Australia and New Zealand.

Ask your child to create a story from each picture, using all the elements found in the pictures or putting their own stories and captions to them. Just ask them what happened, what they think is happening now, and what they think might happen next ...

50 Writing Prompts

1.  List ten ways we could help reduce our use of plastic.

2.  Write a complicated spell to help everyone be happy.

3.  If you play chess, name your chess pieces and write a conversation between them about the battle.

4.  Write another chess conversation, between the black and white players.

5.  What is the quietest thing you have ever seen moving, and describe what you saw.

6.  Write a conversation where someone mentions a type of dog in every sentence.

7.  Write seven things that make you feel calm.

8.  Write a recipe (like you would to make a pie or a cake) for what the best day of your life would be like.

9.  List all the differences you can think of between a cat and a dog.

10. Choose your favourite character from a book, cartoon or a film and write down how you are similar, and how you are different in as many ways as you can find.

11. Write a letter to Mickey and Minnie Mouse, inviting them to your house for a party.

12. Write a list of interview questions for your favourite character, real or imaginary. If they are real, send them to the person by email or social media via your parents.

13. When are people no longer children. How can you tell when they’ve ‘grown up’?

14. Write down seven things you wish were not in our world.

15. Write down seven things you wish WERE in our world.

16. Pick up a pencil, and write down 10 other things you could use it for.

17. When is your favourite time of the day or night and why?

18. Write three things that apples and satellites have in common.

19. What is the strangest noise you’ve ever heard. What made it, how loud was it and if you had to how would you spell it? Try to copy it out loud.

20. Write a horoscope, the day ahead, from all the star signs – for an octopus.

21. Write the story of your life – in 21 words.

22. Write three differences between ice cream and an iphone.

23. Write a menu for dinner where all the courses are green

24. Write down ten things you love about being from the country you’re from.

25. Write ten ways you could blend in to your surroundings if you got stuck in a lion’s cage.

26. List ten things you don’t like about writing.

27. What are the top five greatest inventions in the world.

28. Write to someone famous from history and ask them eleven questions about their life, and about the time they lived in.

29. Ask that person from history in challenge 28, then answer all eleven questions yourself, using your imagination to answer all those you have no idea about.

30. You walk into your bedroom and find a full size Ferrari sports car in your room, even though there is no damage to the room. Give four explanations on how it could have got their?

31. You go for a walk and find a cave, which you go in to explore. Behind you a dragon follows you, blocking your exit. Write down ten ways you could get out of the cave past the dragon, without killing or attacking it.

32. Write ten questions you would love to have answered that you have no idea about.

33. There are thousands of world records. Which one would you like to break, and why?

34. What is your favourite thing in the bathroom and why?

35. A girl finds $10 lying on the ground but she leaves it there. Give three reasons why she would have done this.

36. You have a tall sailing ship and a crew. Where are the first three places you’d ask the crew to sail to, and why?

37. If you could have any animal in the world as a pet what would it be, what would you name it and where would you love to take it - and why?

38. Write a list of your seven favourite smells.

39. Describe a fight between a Schnuffle and Scraggan. How does one of them eventually win?

40. You find a trapdoor in your house with steps going down. Describe where it goes, and what you find there?

41. You are walking to school and an alien spaceship lands in front of you. What are the first non-violent things that happen, then what happens next?

42. You climb a tree and meet six unusual characters and creatures on the way up. What are they, and what are they doing up a tree?

43. Write down an argument, disagreement between a seahorse and a manta ray.

44. You unwrap a birthday present, open the box and take the present out and throw it away. You now have a box! Write down ten things your box could be, and what you could do with it. Example: undo the bottom of the box and place it between rooms, pretending you are going into a new dimension or world each time you craw through it. Or, it’s the fastest racing car in the world and you enter a grand prix with it …

45. You find an empty bottle on the beach with a message inside asking you to go somewhere and do something. Where do you go, and what do you need to do?

46. You wake up in the morning and you can talk to your pet, and understand everything they say. Write down ten question you would ask your pet, and if you don’t have a pet, ten questions to an animal of your choice.

47. You are given one million dollars but only on the understanding you give it away. Who do you give it to, and why?

48. Imagine you are climbing a tree and at the top is a ladder that reaches into a different world every day. Describe the first three worlds you would most like to visit. (From the Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton.

49. Look at an old black and white photograph and imagine you are INSIDE the photo, INSIDE the scene you are looking at. Describe what you see, what you can smell, hear, touch something and describe what it feels like, find something to eat and describe the taste.

50. You join a snail on a very slow adventure. Where do you go, and what do you do. What essential things does a snail keep under it’s shell?

For much more information and interaction, don’t forget to join our new, private Facebook Group to interact, ask questions and share victories and problems. It takes a village, and this is our virtual online village.

Before you go and practice, this is something else we use in every show we do, and everywhere we go teachers continue to use this technique to help their students push past that little inner voice that tells them they can’t, or are not good enough, not clever enough etc.

We ask them to imagine they have a monkey on their shoulder, and they have an unlimited supply of bananas with which to feed this monkey.

Every time the child hears that little negative voice in their head telling they can’t do something, or that they are not good enough, or as good as the person sitting next to them, or whatever that negative voice is telling them – we tell them to imagine that it’s a little monkey saying all these things to them, and every time they hear these things, to feed that monkey a banana to shut it up.

Combine this with ‘YET’ at the end of ‘can’t’ and you have two highly effective strategies with which to change these negative thoughts into positive. This is not a one time thing, it needs to become a positive habit so it becomes automatic.

Dave McCleery  making sure that monkey stops interfering with children’s creative genius. If you would like a hand drawn and coloured monkey and banana picture for your child, to remind them to always feed the monkey, please contact us.

THE IMAGINATION CREATION SHOW

We present our shows mostly around Australia and New Zealand, with jaunts off to the UK as well and to a great little school in Basel, Switzerland. However we have recently relocated, at least for a while, to Europe, so we are available to go – anywhere! If you would like an Imagination Creation Show to come to your school, area, town, city, region, even home, let us know and we will do what we can to make it happen.

We can present up to three shows a day, normally one or two, and we are always available afterwards to run workshops, brainstorms and interact one on one with students, parents and teachers.

The shows are about one and a half hours each, and all we need is a room, two chairs and an adult height table. If there’s a whiteboard available, that’s great too. Everything else we bring with us.

The shows have been presented to audiences from one person up to 550, but we are happy with any number large or small. The average is between 100 – 200. Children, parents and teachers each need a notebook or at least 6 pieces of A4 paper, a pencil and something to lean on. That’s it!

Click picture above or HERE for video

SUPER TIPS:

* If they are STILL reluctant to write things down but are coming up with ideas verbally and using their imaginations, don’t stress and don’t force it. Try other more cunning strategies. For example reinforce what great stories they are making up, but how hard it is to remember them all. Maybe if they write some of them down quickly they’ll remember them?

Or, if you have family who live far away, maybe grandparents or favourite aunts and uncles, suggest to your child that THEY would LOVE to read some of these stories, and if you wrote them down they could enjoy them as well. Praise is a positive thing, and reinforcement of this praise by people they care about increases the effectiveness ten fold.

What Really Matters?  KINDNESS. If there is only one message to be taken from everything we have done and everyone we’ve met and worked with, the message would simply be KINDNESS. This is the single word answer that works for every question.
Whatever the problem, the issue, the breakdown, argument, fight, disagreement, KINDNESS is the answer

 An assignment by Dr Alastair McAlpine  He spends every day caring for children with life-threatening and life-limiting illnesses, working for the non-profit organization PaedsPal. He  confirms our heartfelt belief in the most profound way.  decided to ask children from 4 - 9 years old, who had been diagnosed as terminally ill, what their take on ‘life’ was. What did they enjoy most about life?

Their answers are precious and down to earth, with all the noise and distractions stripped away leaving only the truth; the truth for ALL children, and because we are all just grown up children ourselves, us as well.

Source: Alastair McAlpine

If you would love to have the Imagination Creation Show and Workshop come to your school or community, email us at

robddaniel@gmail.com or whatsapp: 61467619399
Skype chocminty.

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JOHN MARSDEN’S  TIPS FOR PARENTS

1. Give children space. Back off. Let them roam. Let them be bored. Don't over-plan their lives. Cut way back on the after-school activities programs.

2. Keep away from all those ghastly, soulless, sterile playgrounds. Keep away from shopping malls. Look for real places. Wild places.

3. Be an adult. Say no to your children at least once a day. If the role of Adult in your family is vacant, then one of your children will fill it. And it won't be pretty.

4. Don't take up all the space. If you are dominating, loud, forceful, your children are highly likely to become passive, lacking spirit and personality … and/or sullen.

5. Believe about 40 per cent of the dramatic stories your children tell you of the injustices, corruption and satanic practices happening at school.

6. Teach them empathy. For example, after their jubilant victory celebrations when they win a sporting match, remind them that their jubilation was only possible because someone else – the losers – have been made to feel awful.

7. Help them develop language skills. Don't finish their sentences for them. Don't correct them when they mispronounce a word – they'll work it out sooner or later. Ask them open-ended questions, that need a detailed answer, not Yes/No questions.

8. Make sure they have regular jobs/duties at home and that those jobs are done to a consistently high standard.

9. Don't whinge endlessly about the miseries of your adult life. A lot of children now are fearful about growing up because their parents paint such a grim picture of the awfulness ahead.

10. Teach them to be very wary of people who Absolutely Know the Absolute Truth about Absolutely Everything! The colour of truth is always grey. Extreme positions are for the ignorant. Every creature, every person and every situation is complex. The universe is a wonderful mystery.”

The Show

The Telling Of Twenty Two Tall Tales by Rob Daniel is available to read  HERE for $9.95

© Rob and Paula Daniel, Dave McCleery 2020

Disclaimer: All content has been tried and tested with children of varying abilities and backgrounds with great success. However, all children are different, and this success depends on children being willing to work with the material many times, and on parents or teachers being willing to patiently explain each concept if required. If your child won’t immediately respond, be patient and go back to this every couple of weeks. If you need to, contact us directly with any issues and we will do what we can to assist you in addressing them robddaniel@gmail.com