Sofia’s mum Alex says the Life Ed program has had a big impact on her daughter’s health and wellbeing education throughout her primary school years.
“After Life Ed, Sofia came home and talked about what types of drugs are bad and what effect they have on you, and why it’s not a good idea to take drugs or give in to peer pressure.”
Alex says the Life Ed program has also instilled emotional regulation skills and resilience.
“Sofia realises that even just the choice she makes in class each day whether she wants to sit down and chat with friends or concentrate on her work will determine whether she’s learning the material in class and whether she gets the grades that she wants and the job opportunities she is aiming for later in life,” Alex said.
“I have noticed that she’s very switched on to other people’s emotions and trying to comfort them or to read them,” Alex says. “She’ll say to me, ‘Mummy, you look stressed. Come here, I’ll give you a hug.’”
Sofia has also been able to apply her Life Education sessions to help manage friendship issues at school.
“At the end of the term, she had a falling out with one of her friends. One of her friends was being a bit mean and saying nasty things,” Alex said.
“Rather than retaliate, she took a mature approach and chose to stay calm, ask her friend to stop and then just ignored the behaviour and continued with her other friendships.”
Ten-year-old Sofia says she will always have fond memories of the Life Ed program.
“I love it when Healthy Harold comes to my school because he makes it so much more fun and it’s easier to learn when it’s fun,” Sofia said.
Alex is grateful the Life Ed program has been part of Sofia’s primary school experience – empowering her to make positive choices to support physical, social and emotional health and wellbeing.
“You have parents at home who show children what to do; teachers at school are teaching them the curriculum; so, it’s valuable to have someone outside of those two relationships visiting the school to provide a different perspective. Life Ed makes it interesting and fun to learn about everyday life things, and it’s not someone they see or hear from every day.”
