How To Fight Bad Thoughts With Positivity?

21st-century is also known as the century of competition. Not a single living being gets spared from the rat race. Competition exists everywhere irrespective of age, caste, color, and so on, but the types of competitions are different for a different stratum of the society.

The CEO of a global company competes against others to secure a rank in the TOP 30 SUCCESSFUL CEOs by FORBES. While a 1st standard student competes among his classmate with respect to who can rhyme Twinkle Twinkle Little Star better. Research has shown that one of the most googled search queries is, 'How to remove negative thoughts?' Bad thoughts and lack of confidence go hand in hand when people do not get ample amount of time to give rest to their brains.

How are the children affected in the rat race?

A genuine problem that has already stepped into the market is stress in children. The adults have the basic capabilities and maturity to make themselves aware of what is stressing them out. For the children, however, it is a very difficult task. They do not have that mental growth that will direct them to the necessary steps to take in accordance with the situation.

Children these days do not have much time to spend with their parents because of their engagement in various sectors. They usually have a good deal of conversation with their teachers in school. Teachers have come across a particular trait that seems to prevail among almost all the children, a negative attitude.

This negative attitude is molded in different forms in different children. Some suffer from lack of confidence, some from anxiety issues, and the most essential one is suffering from lack of self-control. A child getting a grade B in the exam when being compared to the one who has got an A, a tendency of evolving self-doubt occurs. This is the root where a child fails to understand the importance of a positive attitude in life.

Parents who remain busy throughout their whole day also somehow feel too exhausted to listen to the problems being faced by the children in school or somewhere else. They try to spend as much time as possible with their kids but at the end of the day we all human beings need some time of our own. The process of suppressing thoughts and emotions of the children themselves beings here.

The children sometimes feel shy to open up. They lose focus and start behaving weirdly. They often tend to throw tantrums and deny explaining what is actually bothering them. This in turn leads to the addiction to video games and words inside their hearts remain unspoken forever.

Growth mindset in Children:

Since the children spend most of their time with the teachers, there are certain special courses for teachers framed with utmost care and cautiousness. These counseling courses for teachers enable their abilities to deal with students and inculcating positivity into their minds.

These special courses are more like diagnosis or treatment. A certificate In counseling for teachers makes them officially eligible enough to tackle any issue faced by the children with respect to mental health. The aim of the counseling teachers is to encourage building a positive attitude among the children.

A new concept called Growth Mindset has been introduced in the market. According to this concept, people understand that their potential and capabilities are not fixed. They are aware that in due course of time with dedication, patience, discipline, and hard work their competency will be at par with the situation. Counseling courses for teachers enable them to cater to the idea of a growth mindset among children and to help them practice it, for real.

Professor Carol Dweck, an American psychologist, has shown in her research that children with a growth mindset know how to use failure as the pillar of success. She has also said that children with a balanced growth mindset perform better in school and can easily eradicate negative thoughts from their minds. Such a mindset helps the children to achieve success in life down the line of a couple of years. They repel negative people and negative thoughts.

Effective tools that help in building a growth mindset:

Candidates having a diploma in counseling for teachers or a postgraduate diploma in counseling should practice the methods of growth mindset building among young learners. All it takes is patience for the children to develop this brilliant mindset. It does not depend upon the kind of background a child is belonging from.

Cognitive Distortions, meaning the process of thinking having a pessimistic approach is a common pattern in young learners. Such thoughts often make the children suffer from low self-esteem. They start believing that they are of no use and in most cases, those thoughts are absolutely shambolic.

A growth Mindset helps getting rid of various mental issues generate due to cognitive distortions. Polarization, overgeneralization, blaming others, refuse to accept a positive compliment are all fatal results of cognitive distortions. There are certain tools, rather than approaches that act as catalysts in building a growth mindset. Counseling teachers have the potential to arrange scenarios where the students can understand the value of positivity in life and gradually develops a growth mindset. Organizing fun-based games is a brilliant methodology that can be of great help. Tools that have successfully aided in developing a growth mindset among students are:

Dodging a fixed mindset: A fixed mindset is a thought process that is deeply rooted inside a child's brain that he is unable to get rid of.

For example, a student has scored 60/100 in a class test and another student has got 90/100. The former starts thinking that the latter is a better student and loses focus on the subject. Eventually, he begins hating the subject and does not study. Thus, such a fixed mindset has gotten his interest lost in the subject.

A counseling teacher can step up in this case and rescue the demotivated student. The teacher can give him a home task and ask him to solve the same question paper where he has scored 60/100. A reward of chocolate can be announced on scoring above 80 which will boost up the kid's motivation. Thus the child will be enthusiastic enough to solve the paper with more care. He will no longer think that he is of no use.

The student will thus learn that practice makes everything perfect. He can gain concentrate on studying and understand the true value of hard work as well as dedication.

Practice and Patience: The show must go on! The counseling courses for teachers include one of the most essential topics via which the educators learn the procedures of sowing the seed of patience in the students' minds.

Over here, the children learn how not to give up till the end. The students learn multiple techniques to confront day-to-day challenges. Suppose, a child is unable to tie the lace of his shoes. The teacher must make him understand that if he practices tying the lace of the shoe, soon he can tie like perfectly.

Children should use words like 'yet', 'almost', 'soon', etc. which is helpful in growing the patience level. A student must think, 'I can tie my shoelace soon if I practice hard.', instead of 'I can never tie my shoelace.' Such subtle and crisp approaches have created monumental effet in students' mental health.

Special abilities: In this era of strict competition, children often become the victim of unhealthy comparison. A child who cannot recite well is getting compared with the one who performs beautiful recitation. The former might be an excellent painter unlike the latter but emphasizing only one ability adversely affects a child's mindset.

A teacher must be able to communicate clearly with the students in order to know what they excel at. An interesting game can be organized where the kids will write down their hobbies or what excites them the most. It has been observed that such a survey has always resulted in diverse results.

Not every student is a fan of painting. Dancing might seem passionate to many students while some may love magic tricks and singing. Thus, it is the responsibility of the educator to figure out certain spots of interest and plan something accordingly to make students feel confident.

Self-restraint: It is of utter importance that young students should be aware of what is within their control and what is absolutely made for saying 'Goodbye'. A counselor is a perfect tutor for this job because he will have the ability to understand the students' minds.

A classroom session must be given to the children based on some basic pieces of stuff that they can control and certain things which they shouldn't worry about. A counselor should make the students realize the power of not bothering on things that depend on others.

For instance, a child is worried that a few minutes later he is supposed to do a painting, one of his favorite hobbies, in front of the whole class. Being a responsible counselor, it should be his responsibility to make the child understand a few points. Firstly, he should tell the child to focus on his charisma and potential. Secondly, the child must feel how much happiness he gains from painting.

Hence, the student will understand that his happiness, his focus, his goal, his outlook towards life, etc are all under his control. On the contrary, he should not think about how the whole class will react to his painting. Otherwise, he will be unable to concentrate on his painting. The reaction of the other students is beyond his control and focusing on that aspect will cost time a good amount of his time.

Parents and educators: The parents must be aware of how their children are spending time in the school and should look after their progress. They must be in touch with the counselors in order to know the condition of the children's mental health.

Conclusion:

The counselling courses for teachers these days have become extremely significant due to the severe state of stress and anxiety the children go through. The eligibility criterion for certificate and diploma certificates in counseling courses is 10+2 where a post-graduate diploma requires a bachelor's degree.

The educators must be empathetic enough to understand what state of mind is bothering the children's mental peace. After all, children are the future of society, and suffering from negativity will hamper their skills and goodness. It is the core duty of the counselors to white-wash any kind of bad thoughts from the minds of the children.

Let the children spend a peaceful life, along with positive people.