It’s September again and a time for a new start for many.

Perhaps you have a young person going into a new year, perhaps they’re starting a new school or perhaps they are flying the nest to begin their University life.

It’s exciting, worrying and overwhelming all at once and that goes for you as well as them.

Remember that it’s perfectly valid for you to feel that way and make sure you reassure them that the same goes for what they’re feeling.

Use some of our handy tools below to help you navigate this new landscape and the ups and downs.

Back to School Special - Build Confidence with The HOW People

Last year, we had the absolute pleasure of chatting to Jo from Flourish about the start of the new school year and how you can help your children to feel more confident going into what can feel like a social frenzy after weeks at home.

Tune in to find out how they can improve their self-esteem, hear top tips for making friends and also the advice we would...

So much can happen, often unrecognised or glossed over as we keep making baby steps towards the vision that we have for The HOW People.

So, it is time to stop, to step back and look at our highlights from 2022 before we take a bit of a break over the holidays. 

Here they are. 

Our Five Gold Things. 

#1 CONNECTION

On a beautiful sunny day in September, Esme, a 16 year old from Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA - who has been in our HOW membership community for two years having found us completely randomly - and her family came to Mumbles to visit us. She brought us new hats from her trip to Iceland. We laughed, ate and swam in a seaweed filled ocean.

She then travelled around the country and met up with other girls she’d met through the membership, making real life connections with people who will be friends for life. Tonight she is leading an art session for us as one of our HOW Mentors. One of our core values is CONNECTION. Reaching out and meeting new...

Highs. Lows. Funnies.

Every week on our membership we talk about our highs, lows and funnies. Those moments, big or small, during the week that we reflect on and share with others.

2021 has been a full of lots of examples but today got me thinking about what have been the highs, lows and funnies for us both in business #thehowpeople #cofounders

High: presenting into school classrooms up and down the country with the brilliant Emma Clift at the helm. Live Friday lessons to schools up and down the country plus 3 free workshops including a Christmas special to 300 year 6 classrooms at the same time. Loved them and can’t wait to continue in 2022

Low: losing Scully, the very lovely old family dog who was as loved a regular resident at Crook HQ and regularly hugged and often ridden like a horse by all of our kids.

Funny: a very funny and spontaneous game of London bingo on bikes when we should’ve been networking before our first big awards ceremony in London which was another...

One

• Generally, I’ve found that if us parents are over-involved, we provide fewer opportunities for our kids to self-reflect. We must allow our kids to feel and to be curious about how those feelings affect our behaviours. Every time they experience something new, they are adding to their self-confidence balance sheets

Two 

• Be prepared to share your fails with them and show them how you got back up. It may be messy, but if you can bounce then they can too. It’s not the falling that we learn from it’s how we style it out.

Three

• Let them figure out problems and concerns by themselves...and then celebrate with them.

Four

• If you are anxious, your kids will feel it. Tell them. Share your emotions with them and also explain what you’re doing about it. This will create a two-way exchange that will serve you well through the teenage years. Trust.

Amanda Morgan Thomas is mum of three teens, business mentor, coach and advisor to...

Here at The HOW People, you’ll find us cheerleading amazing women everyday but as Monday 8th March is International Women’s Day we are dedicating this month’s blog to sharing with you how individuals, charities and projects are trying to change the future for the next generation of women. 

WATCH

This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is #choosetochallenge and you can watch some brilliant creations by women from a variety of backgrounds speaking about how and why they choose to challenge gender bias and inequality. We love the engaging poem by Aminah Rahman and the video by JayaHadADream about her experiences as a woman with a passion for music!

Click here to have a look

Got a bit more time?  Watch the UN speech given by the truly inspirational Malala Yousafzai, the young girl who was shot by the Taliban for speaking out for girls’ right to education. She went on to become the youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and...

1-7th February is Children's Mental Health Week.

This year, more than any other, we are seeing more and more children really struggling.

Uncertainty, family stresses, financial worries at home, no school - then school - then no school, not seeing friends, no play dates, no birthday parties, no sport, no clubs, no swimming, no museums, being asked to keep away from friends in the park. 

What can we do to help them now and in the months ahead?

What practical steps and ground work can we do now?

1. A little bit of routine 

HOW can routines help our anxiety?

As adults make lots of decisions every day but so do our kids, especially teens.

What to wear, what to eat, what to do for the day, what piece of work to finish first.

If you have too many decisions to make then that this can increase anxiety

Try having some "certainty anchors” built into your day.

These are things that make parts of our day solid, anchored and unchanged. 

This is harder at the moment...

HOW Girls launched in June 2019: a block of 6 weeks this involved a 2 hour evening session at Surfside Cafe on Langland Beach. Freelance sessions were delivered weekly Yoga, Beach Club Fit, Trust Games, Photography and one week we had an ocean swim, built a fire and had marshmallows. Bliss. 

How did it work?

Each session started with a round circle chat each week in line with our core values. ‘If you were an animal what would you be and why?’ ‘How would others describe you?’ this was always a lovely way to start the session. During the course we invited some young local role models to come along and help out. Each week we did a beach clean and this lead to discussing plastic pollution and the importance for us to pick up as well as thinking about our useage. This was an angle we hadn’t expected the girls to take to so well. They continue to beach clean everytime they visit with their families now!

Scrapbooking and journalling was a big highlight...

The HOW People is the product of many a chat over coffee, wine, walking the dogs, playing with the kids and sitting putting the world to right on the beach.

Jo Watkins and Polly Crook have known each other for over 15 years since Jo and her then boyfriend, and now husband, Davey rented a house from Polly’s parents when they first moved to Mumbles. Polly, who is 10 years younger that Jo, was 18 yrs old and going off to University and Jo and Dave had moved to Mumbles to settle down, get married and have a family. They got on well, had a lot of fun but their lives were very different at that stage. Fast forward 10 years and a sad series of family events brought them back in touch and the rest is history.

The last 5 years they have spent a lot of time together. Polly has been a big influence on Jo and Dave’s eldest daughter, mini Polly and they have other children of similar ages. They are both serial organisers, planners and facilitators and love nothing more than...

In September we had our first HOW Fundraiser Film night at Cinema and Co to launch our winter film nights and raise money for the two charities we support, Surfability and Valley Kids.

We have had a few HOW girls volunteer with Surfability following HOW Sessions and they have loved this experience. Surfing with disabled children and adults and children with learning difficulties. Valley Kids is giving a huge amount to kids who have nothing and our residential is held at a Valley Kids property so we have chosen to support them with any fundraising we do.

We raised an an amazing £1400 from ticket sales and raffle. Some of the HOW Girls also made cakes and jewellery that they sold during the evening. Our total fundraising over the year has led to us presenting both charities with cheques for £816 each. 

Our film was Vitamin Sea by Cal Major documenting her record breaking journey on Stand Up Paddle Board from Land's End to John O'Groats on a mission to highlight all...