"Helped me to concentrate because it taught me how to concentrate." Charlie aged 9
"Taught me that taking risks can be fun." Maggie aged 9
"Taught me not to always take the easy route, but to sometimes go a harder way." Graeme aged 7
"Taught me that you can always get past something that is in your way." Liam aged 12
"Taught me how to focus my mind." Graham aged 9
"Taught me that I can concentrate even with distractions." Josie aged 10
"Taught me to believe in myself and not to quit." Alice aged 9
"Taught me that successful people have disappointments and bad luck." Charlie aged 9
"Taught me that I need to imagine things to be able to do them. I am now imagining being a taekwondo professional." Laura aged 12
"I now know how to find my e zone." Lizzie aged 13
"When I have achieved something I mark it off on the successometer." Mia aged 8
Absolutely ages ago I was sent a book called Secrets of Success for Top Ender to read (and Big Boy when he is a bit bigger) and when it came I gave it a quick glance but before I could give it to Top Ender, I sort of lost the book. Yes, lost it. I looked everywhere and couldn't find it. I knew it was in my living room, but it wasn't on the book shelf, it wasn't in the pile of books in the den, it wasn't on the computer desk, it wasn't anywhere. Seems the secrets of success were going to remain a secret to me at least.
Then a few days ago I found the book in my blogging box, I have no idea how it ended up in there but I found it at the perfect time, as I was planning on making some new goals and I wanted to be successful in reaching them so I thought the secrets might help me! So I have been reading the book, and really enjoy the easy to read style and simplicity of the text (well it is designed for children) and have been putting the secrets into practice.
Top Ender has managed to grab a look too and has explained to me that the secrets are really clever, because they aren't secrets at all but if you don't know that is what you have to do to be successful then you won't be! Tops has hit upon the genius of the book. Sometimes trying to carry out your goals doesn't work because you forget one simple step and sometimes just the act of seeing it written down is enough to spur you into action and in the right direction. It will hopefully help children understand that to be a success doesn't mean overnight and minimum skills but a lot of hard work and dedication!
The book is really for a slightly older audience than Top Ender I feel, maybe the pre-teen market (sort of 9 upwards) but it says it is aimed at 6 year olds and up. It does make sense to Tops at seven and who knows maybe because of reading this book she will become the next big business mogul, or artist, or musician or...
A lot of children (and adults too) think that you can only be really successful if you’re clever, funny or on X Factor! But a new book, Secrets of Success, explodes that myth and shows them the truth - that every child has the potential for success if they follow eight simple secrets. Secrets of Success is an amazing book that lets children aged 7 – 13 discover how they can take control over important aspects of their life to help them achieve whatever they want to achieve.
Success isn’t just about money. It is about happiness, choices and feeling good about yourself - having positive self esteem. “This underpins our children’s emotional health and well-being” says Chris Quigley, the author of the book. Chris is an ex primary school Head Teacher and provides training for teachers all over the world. He believes that if children read his book and follow his eight secrets, they can learn to be successful for themselves.
Written in a child–friendly format, with appealing cartoon illustrations, the book doesn’t preach or patronise – it empowers the child to take control for him or herself. There are simple exercises for children to follow and pages for children to jot down what they have learned along the way.
I recently attended a seminar at my son's school about bolstering a child's self esteem and wish I'd known about this book first. It was recommended by a friend who used it to help her daughter and my son found it really good.
He doesn't understand about self esteem but he does know about success - unfortunately a lot of kids seem to think that being on The X Factor means you're successful these days and that couldn't be further from the truth. The book is divided into 8 chapters with 8 key 'secrets' and space to write down things the child has learned. It's fun and colourful with good illustrations and I can't recommend it highly enough. I bought it online - just google the author and you can get it direct - there seems to be an educational set but if you look at all the products on the website it's available for mums for £8.95.
I’m always keen to look at anything designed to make growing up a little easier. So I was interested to receive a copy of Chris Quigley’s Secrets of Success which aims to help children understand how to be successful.
Success means different things to different people, of course. It is also a difficult concept for children, especially as young as seven, to really understand. Nevertheless, I like the definition of success presented in the book: Success isn’t just about money. It’s about happiness, choices and feeling good about yourself.
The book goes on to say that successful people feel good about the following:
The book is divided into eight chapters, including Try new things, Work hard, Concentrate and Understand others. Some of the concepts were a little difficult for IJ to understand. She didn’t really know what was meant by listening to feedback and took the idea of ‘pushing yourself’ literally, but it opened up topics for us to discuss together, which was extremely useful.
The book is very colourful with excellent graphics and perfect for holding a child’s interest. There are rules at the end of each chapter covering the points and room for children to make their own lists of areas they want to work on. The lists were a little advanced for IJ but it’s something we would return to, perhaps in a couple of years’ time.
The book is excellent if a little complex for younger readers. It is the sort of book you would need read together and a great starting point for discussions about getting on in life and how to deal with some of the obstacles that are likely to get in the way.
I particularly liked the following points:
The book includes a Success-O-Meter where children can rate how successful you are feeling with relation to the eight areas covered in the book. The book is targeted at children aged 7-13 but I found I gained a lot from it too.