There are several scientific studies that demonstrate the highest positive effect that reading children's literature has on children. It is a tool of decisive importance in the multifaceted formation of their personality, since children's literature stimulates and excites their imagination. A developed imagination, by extension, affects children in multiple ways, according to experts. It helps them discover new worlds and ideas, with all that entails.
The phrase attributed to Pythagoras, "The mind is a fire to be kindled, not a vessel to be filled", which in the later course of history was paraphrased by the French philosopher Michel de Montaigne and adopted by experts - "A child does not it is a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled' - comes to emphasize the importance of emotional stimulation in order to light the 'fire'.
Scientists and educators agree that a children's literary book plays the role of fuel, something like coal that feeds the fire, so that it flares up and burns continuously. A good children's literary book causes emotional stimulation and acts as an aid in the development of children's imagination, as they experience the desires, needs and problems of other characters and thus acquire a structured view of life, but at the same time they develop new visual and social skills of their own. , which help them interpret events in their immediate environment and situations they face or will face in the future, in the real world. Literature creates role models and the characters it portrays – good, bad, ideal, to be avoided – help children form criteria, morals and values. Through reading a good children's literary book, children are influenced, identified, troubled, involved, questioned, comforted, relieved, compared, reacted... And the freedom provided by the imagination makes finding solutions more... inventive and making decisions easier and more… enjoyable. In addition, the developed imagination stimulates their creativity.
Based on the above, the Cyprus Youth Organization is collaborating this year with the Fairytale Museum and together they are organizing 12 workshops that, using an equal number of children's literature stories and with the participation of different teachers each time, aim to help children develop social and emotional skills with a positive and creative way. It is an original program called "Skills4Kidz – growing children's potential", based on Solution Focused Therapy developed by the team of therapists of the Brief Family Therapy Center of Milwaukee, led by Steve De Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg.
The program is aimed at children aged 6 to 12 who, through the workshops and through specific techniques and tools of solution focused therapy, which process social skills important in children's lives, will be helped to strengthen their self-esteem and self-confidence, to develop their emotional intelligence, courage and resilience, as well as activate their creativity and imagination.
The 12 workshops will last 90 minutes each, will start on April 29 and will be held simultaneously in Nicosia (Fairytale Museum), Sotira (Famochos Youth Center) and Larnaca (Larnaka Youth Center), every Saturday evening from 15:00 p.m. until 16:30. Each workshop will be announced separately through the social media of the Fairy Tale Museum and the Youth Organization. In each announcement there will be a registration form where parents can register their child. Participation is free.
The program was designed and developed by the FamilyInstitute of Cyprus in collaboration with BRIEF, the World-renowned Solution Focused Therapy treatment and training center.
For more information, you can call 22 376522.