The Little Company of CAN-DO – A Well-being Tool for Kids – It has been inspirational to see how the population have been dealing with the recent Covid-19 lockdown. I have seen lots of musical entertainment, educational classes, stories, training opportunities and quiz events popping up online and within friends’ groups on social media. People are beginning to think for themselves in ways they have not had the opportunity to do so before. The population has pulled together through this extraordinary time, in aid to keep the nation and one another upbeat.
Naturally, depending on your personal circumstances, lockdown time will vary greatly. For those of you with children at home of all ages, I can aspire to. Having three of my own, all now adults, the memories of the 6-week summer break good and bad will always haunt me. Preparation was at the foremost for those long weeks, particularly when there was a financial budget involved to control general activities for my brood. So, I take my hat off to those of you coping with the ‘kids at home’ predicament we are dealing with at present.
This has been an opportunity for bringing people and family together and this is certainly the case for the husband and wife duo Simon Baghomian and Hayley Simpson.
They have created The Little Company of CAN-DO, a colourful can bursting with mindful exercises and positivity prompts. The purpose is to give daily doses of affirmation and mindfulness exercises, to help build a can-do attitude and a positive and calm mindset. This has become even more prevalent in these strange times of the pandemic and the high levels of anxiety in children.
As parents to three girls, two of whom are teenagers, they have become acutely aware of the stresses and distractions that kids face these days. The constant buzzing of their tablet or phone, the impossible expectations created by social media, the never-ending slog of school and homework, the complications of friendship groups and kids… the list is endless and can take the shine away from the brightest child.
Whilst they had seen various journals and tools in the marketplace, from their own experience, they knew that not every child will commit to writing something out daily so they wanted to create something quick and fun for kids to engage with, something simple and colourful but that still included important messages about confidence, mindfulness and gratitude.
The Products
A little Can of Can-do
Retailing at £15.99 the Little Can of Can-Do contains a month’s worth of cards (28 in total) with prompts and exercises for mindfulness, gratitude and confidence. It’s designed and made in Great Britain and aimed at children aged 8-15 years.
It’s a fun and simple tool that your child can use alone or you can enjoy together exploring mindfulness, living in the moment and celebrating who you are. With colourful pictures to catch the eye one side of the card and a prompt or exercise on the other to build a can-do attitude and a positive mindset.
After 28 days save your favourite pictures and exercises and stick them on the wall and use the little can for something else.
A Little Can of Can-do Social Media
Retailing at £15.99 our Little Can of Can-Do Social Media contains a month’s worth (28 in total) of prompts and tips for kids and teens for staying safe and happy on social media. It’s aimed at children from tweens upwards.
With colourful images to catch the eye on one side of the card and a helpful tip on the other to help educate kids on how to enjoy the positives of social media in a safe way. A good starting point for parents/carers to start the conversation with kids and teens on their social media usage. Pick out a card together and discuss what it means to you both.
Whilst producing Can-do, they had the perfect audience, they involved their children throughout and at every stage of the production process to see which worked best for them.
Can-do has also partnered with a mental health charity YiS (Young People’s Mental Health) to endorse the product and to ‘give back’ to a good cause where a small percentage of profits for each can sold is going to help children with mental health problems.
Poppy Watt