How to help your child with their study choices and future career
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Recently my son and I have been following the Mindscreen experience®. Mindscreen is a series of lessons which offer powerful and practical resources for parents and teachers encouraging higher self-confidence and raised aspirations in children aged 11 upwards.
My son is 8 years old but we’ve found the programme to be just as valuable to him.
We’ve written several articles about each step, if you would like to know how the process works and the theory read our first post here.
For a breakdown of lessons one through to four, please read our review where we have completed each lesson and explained them in full.
For the next part of the course, we are focussing on study choices and your child’s future. We learnt about why children should choose their own career, not their parents. How education and our study choices help us achieve our dreams along with the process to discover what these are!
It’s been a fascinating few weeks going through this. Before I tell you exactly how we’ve found it, below you can read about lessons five to eight and what you can expect to find in each one.
Credit: Pixabay.
EasyStudyChoice
This lesson helps your child choose subjects to study that match with their own skills, personal interests, and subjects in which they find value. It can help them identify career options which correlate with their study choices.
I remember the very limited ‘career interviews’ we were given at school when I was younger. The process was rather rudimentary and basically involved looking up job titles in a large encyclopedia-type tomb with your career advisor.
This is a much more intuitive plan where you encourage your child to identify subjects which they enjoy, are in line with their own interests and are something they care about.
There are activities, exercises and the opportunity for you both to find out more about the potential study and career paths.
The aim of this section is for your child to understand that in order to enter a career which they love and which suits them, there is merit in choosing particular subjects.
They will also learn that it’s important to choose subjects which interest them and are not expected of them by parents or peers.
I think this is such a crucial part of the programme. Life and future job satisfaction is based on making the right study choices for the individual, leaning in to those personal strengths. Something we don’t always grasp early on.
Credit: Pixabay.
EasyCareerChoice
Finding your future career is such an overwhelming task at a young age. There are so many options and choices. Many jobs which our children will hold aren’t even created yet!
Through the activities in this module, children have help identifying career options that they are most likely to find enjoyment from. However the key takeaway here is for them to realise that they can take action and control of their lives by planning and having practical goals.
At this point, they will understand more fully their natural skills and how these might match study choices.
Through activities and questions, they will be able to deduce what their favourite career options might be. They learn how to find out more about these professions and if it will suit them from the work they’ve completed on their skills.
EasyCV
A crucial document for your child as they become a young adult is of course their CV.
Though it may seem daunting, tackling this by working through it together will support your child and build confidence.
This module focuses on the most important part of the CV which is a personal statement. Many adults struggle to do this properly so having this framework as a base is such a great support.
In their Mindscreen experience® profile your child will be able to find career ideas which can be used in addition to any you have come up with together.
Building on the work they completed in the easyConfidence lesson they will be able to review positive statements about themselves which can be incorporated into their CV.
The programme walks you and your child through the process of completing the personal statement so you won’t have to worry if you’ve left something out or what the best practice should be.
EasyFuture
Your child's working future probably seems like a long way off but in the easyFuture module we are taught a fantastic method for creating successful outcomes whatever they choose to do.
Through the activities in this lesson we are taken down a path of choosing a destination or goal. We are taught to consider which “Success recipe” will get us to where we want to be.
Goal setting is a brilliant skill to master and so beneficial for a positive mindset. I’m so pleased to see that the programme also goes through how to cope when tough times occur and how your child can stay on course.
Learning the five vital ingredients for success in this lesson is enlightening. Your child is taught how each one is a key component to achieving their destination.
Through visualisation your child learns to ask themselves questions and search for ways to achieve their aims.
Credit: Pixabay.
How does it work for us?
I’ve been so impressed with the Mindscreen experience® from start to finish. I will be keeping all the information we've learned as there is so much value I need to keep absorbing and coming back to it. I feel it will continue to benefit us and our children as time goes on.
Everything in the programme is focused on how the child feels, what they enjoy and love, how they feel about themselves and their abilities. How they can recognise their natural skills and future direction rather than forcing them down a path which is not suited to them. It’s based on the child opening up to the core of who they are.
In one section the lesson discusses how everyone wants to be successful at something however large or small. This is so true and normally those who think they can’t achieve this are lacking in self confidence and belief.
This is why there’s a good reason to follow the programme step by step. In the first few lessons we build on self esteem, confidence and belief . Each lesson builds on the last, so once your child is thinking about subjects and careers they already feel good about their abilities.
As I’ve said before I think Mindscreen should be available in schools. It’s so valuable for both the child and parent. It gives us parents support as well as we are not experts in all of these areas!
One element which surprises me is how much material is included in the experience. It’s incredible value and you can download each lesson and refer to it in the future.
If you have any questions about any stage of the programme do get in touch. We have followed every lesson so I can give you an honest review and breakdown of how it works.