We are often asked how coaching kids is different than coaching adults. Coaching kids is definitely different from coaching adults...and the distinction is brain development.
Adults have much stronger critical thinking skills because the frontal lobes of their brains, where critical thinking occurs, are fully developed. These critical thinking skills enable them to make distinctions and to draw conclusions more effectively.
Adults also have greater life experience from which to draw upon. That is why life coaches for adults use questions as their main tool for engaging with their clients.
Children’s brains are different. Their frontal lobes are not fully developed nor are their critical reasoning skills.
As a result, coaching kids requires a stronger teaching component to help them learn these powerful mindset skills. With a coach’s guidance, kids can then learn how to apply the skills to their own lives.
And of course, children’s attention span tends to be a lot shorter as well — which is why it is important to find fun and engaging ways to work with kids.
And that is why stories are such a powerful tool for coaching kids!
Photo by Erik Odiin on Unsplash