Welcome to Flying School

Flying School came about after I was asked “What burns a hole in your stomach?”

I realised that it was a feeling of uselessness when I heard adults talking to children, or children talking to each other, using language that at best limited and at worst damaged their view of themselves.

As a coach, I’m probably more acutely aware of the impact of language on a person’s ability to be themselves in the world. I can see how these ‘throw away’ comments can potentially be accepted as true. It might take many years before a child will start to question it and decide for themselves. I would feel frustrated that I couldn’t do anything to help them.

In addition, I could see some untapped potential in children, who I believe, can be underestimated by us, adults. They always surprise me with their ideas and wisdom from a very young age. Couldn’t they do more to help each other learn to fly?

What if?

I am a mum of two boys and my experience as a parent is to always try to be perfect. Everyone seems to be ready with advice on how to do it well and often this made me feel completely useless. It’s taken me a while to challenge my own thinking on how to parent, to let go of the need to compete with others and to do everything for my children. I have found that my coaching skills have been incredibly helpful as a parenting tool in the good times and the bad.

• What if we could bring some of the ideas from the leadership development world to support children as they grow up?
• What if adults (parents, teachers and others) and children could learn coaching skills and pass these on to each other?
• What if we were more aware of our impact on each other’s ability to fly?
• What if we could learn some of the skills to help us fly at any age and learn how to pass these on?

I am passionate about helping people learn to fly by being themselves in the world. I believe that we can make a huge impact on a child’s ability to fly by the language we use and the sort of environment we create when we are with them (whether they are at home, in school, with their friends or on their own).

Flying School is an adventure in attempting to answer the above questions, it is not about us knowing all the answers – we believe that you already have them and we want to help you find them, whether you are an adult or a child.

We are at the beginning of our journey and we are looking for supporters, please sign up and we will be in touch as our ideas and products emerge.