From tears to cheers! Conquering the challenge of hair washing.

Our superhero story is one many parents can relate to!

As part of our Academy Program for 6-8 year olds, each child is given a weekly challenge.

These challenges are to be completed at home and will revolve around specific challenges that the child may be facing at home, at school or in the community. For some, this may mean eating a greater variety of foods. For others, it may be learning to do their school work independently.  These challenges are recorded by the parents and then sent to the team. The videos are then played back to the children each session so that the entire group is benefitting from seeing each other attempt and overcome challenges. We have found this to be an incredibly effective way to quickly show children the benefits of attempting challenges. However, the best part is that the children all love to see themselves on the big screen and will begin to develop a natural desire to challenge themselves.

Two weeks ago, one particular boy’s parents had noticed that he was enjoying being challenged and took it upon themselves to set their own challenge for him.

They had decided to challenge their son to wash his hair without crying. This had been one of his biggest challenges for a number of years. In fact, he had never been able to wash his hair without having a meltdown or crying. Given the progress that he had made at the Academy over the past few weeks, they decided it would be a good test for him.

The parents sent us two videos.

In the first video, he was visibly upset simply discussing the challenge with his parents. After the parents reminded him to use the breathing technique he had learnt at The Academy, he quickly composed himself and remembered that he could tilt his head back to avoid water running down his face.

In the second video, he is seen coming out of the bathroom with a smile after washing his hair. He had completed his parents’ challenge. It was the first time that he was able to wash his hair without crying!

What an incredible moment for the boy and well done to his parents for setting him up for the challenge.

On to the next challenge – the haircut!

We received amazing news from the boy’s parents. He just had his first haircut at the barber without any tears! And in another first for the boy, he also had his hair dried with a hairdryer straight after. Huge thanks to the boy’s parents for giving us permission to share his video in our last newsletter.

Well done for this little superhero who showed the power of facing challenges with courage and determination!