NextGen Edu: 

Harnessing the power of habits for a lifetime of success. Free online programs

 

July 2022 Newsletter

ENROLL FOR SUMMER CAMP 2022

Hi all, 

I hope you’ve enjoyed a relaxed, fun and meaningful break. The summer months are the best time to help our children build good habits (e.g., maintaining a better sleep schedule, becoming more organized, reading and writing more) and eliminate bad habits (e.g., high-sugar and junk foods, procrastinating, leaving dirty clothes on the floor, Grrrrr!).

 

We all know the power of habits; and yet it is notoriously hard to form good ones. Take New Year’s Resolutions as an example. A lot of people envision new habits for themselves in the new year, hoping to exercise more, eat healthier, save more money, or lose weight. However, according to Forbes, “nearly 80% of people admitted to abandoning their New Year’s resolutions by February every year.” On top of that, research shows that it is a myth that it takes 21 days for new habits to become normalized. It takes much longer than that for a new behavior to become automatic. 

 

If habit-building is so hard for adults, then how do we, as parents, help our children build good habits that set them up for a lifetime of success? One of our guest speakers at NextGen Edu, Dr. Eran Magen, said that the secret was not about habit itself, but the “relationship bank account” between parents and children. Our children will be more motivated to take our advice, including  good habit forming and bad habit elimination, when we have built a healthy and solid relationship with them. In order to have enough “goodwill deposits” in our relationship bank account, we need to show them care and respect. He then shared four key elements for new habits to stick:

  • Slow. Start small and increase slowly. 
  • Successful. Pick an easy goal to begin with, and celebrate success along the way. 
  • Pleasant. Encourage, praise or reward, especially at the beginning. 
  • Relevant. We’ll need to involve and consult our children to help them understand why a particular habit is helpful and why it matters for them. 

 

I’d also like to share a practical tool that I’ve personally used and found very helpful: tiny habits (or micro habits). BJ Gogg, a Stanford professor and founder of the Stanford Behavior Design Lab, gives a recipe for positive and sustainable habits: Behavior=Motivation + Ability + Trigger. What do we do when we want to build new behaviors but we constantly find ourselves lacking high motivation? The answer: Forget big changes. Start with a tiny habit instead! For example, to form a discipline/routine of daily exercise, we start with something which takes nearly no time or effort (e.g., walk 5 minutes every day). We stick to it long enough, and then establish another tiny habit on top of that. Here’s a Youtube video of his famous TED talk. 

 

We've added a few new sessions of summer camps due to high demand. If your kid wants some self-paced learning, here are a few FREE online programs that we recommend: Khan Academy, Code.org (K-12), W3schools (advanced learners). 

 

Enjoy the rest of the summer!

 

Jiang Pu, Ph.D.

Founder of NextGen Education  

 

ENROLL NOW for SUMMER CAMP 2022

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