(MENAFN- The Peninsula) ayeni olusegun |
The Peninsula
Doha: Many people know what it feels like to be uncertain, doubt one's ability, appearance, and intelligence and generally feel negative.
Though there are several ways to deal with such thoughts, one of the easiest and most effective methods is using positive affirmations. A positive affirmation is a phrase or quote you say to yourself to combat or challenge overwhelming negative thoughts.
In today's world of uncertainty and rampant bullying online and offline, teaching children to practise positive affirmations can make them feel like they have the power to influence their thoughts and behaviours.
“There was a time in my life when I was going through some difficult situations, so I got into some recreational activities. I started working with kids, and that helped me. Also, telling myself positive things with these affirmations helped,” Helen Ogbelade, a Doha-based Nigerian, whose recently-published book Kiddies Words of Affirmation aims to help kids deal with challenges and negativity, told The Peninsula.
“So I thought to tell these affirmations to kids, put it in a book so they could learn through it. It would help boost their self-esteem and creativity. When you have kids, whatever you tell them at school or as a parent sticks with them, especially in school.”
Positive affirmations can be life-changing for kids. Even if the child may logically not grasp all that is written or what it means, keeping it on subconsciously permanently impacts their belief system, perception, and personality. The beliefs children pick up from family and friends, role models, and television can be nurturing or damaging.
Helen's books come in two versions – for age group till fives and six to ten, published by Dar Al Sharq Printing and Publishing in February this year. The author believes combining words and pictures in the books would help kids understand the messages better and leave a lasting image.
“The combination of words and pictures would easily gravitate to them,” Helen said, adding that“whatever they are taught with pictures will stick than just learning with words that they don't understand.”
A graduate of Botany from Olabisi Onabanjo University in Nigeria, Helen disclosed that it was a conscious decision to have the books only in hard copies because she hopes to promote reading culture from a young age.
“We only have this hard copy of this book because it's a way of training a child to open and read books. There is a kind of magic in reading from a physical book. When you have e-copies, kids can easily be distracted and not learn anything. This is why we've made only hard copies,” Helen stressed.
Helen's books were first published in Nigeria, and to get them printed in Qatar, she needed a local publisher and found Dar Al Sharq.
According to Helen, Dar Al Sharq facilitated the process down to getting the Ministry of Culture's approval, which she disclosed only took about three days.
“Dar Al Sharq played a massive role in getting the approval from the ministry. They are a big publication house in Qatar, and they are trusted. I know for a book like this that deals with kids, it has to be clean and send the appropriate message, and Dar Al Sharq helped me through the process,” she said.
With the books now being sold at several stores in Doha and even at book fairs, including the Qatar University Book Fair and the Ramadan Fair, Helen hopes schools adopt the books as part of their curriculum for kids. She added that she feels more confident about discussing the books with the government's approval.
“I want to see it worldwide, not only the schools but orphanage homes. If you want to give a gift to a child, you could use this book. If you organise a kids' party, you could use the book as part of the gifts. So I want to see every child in the world have a copy of this book,” she added.