See Bee Tee: A Story to Reinforce Positive Thinking in Children

Being the mother of two wonderful girls, I often ask myself: "What values can I possibly instil in my children that will support them throughout their entire lives?" My goal is to give them something that will positively impact on their relationships, strengthen their resilience in challenging situations, make them confident thinkers, and prepare them for those unexpected moments when certain doors in life close. Like any parent, I would like to shape my children into active creators, helping them to open many new doors filled with plenty of opportunities. It is no surprise that I find myself asking the same questions, during sessions with my clients. Even then I come up with the identical answer. If I had to choose and share only one concept from the whole field of psychology, it would be the 'power of positive thinking'. While there are many valuable theories, methods, and tools that can assist to improve the quality of our lives, in my professional opinion the power of positive thinking tops that list. Positive thinking can be used as a tool to build resilience, help us address past experiences, enhance the enjoyment of the present moment and maximize our cognitive resources to continuously improve the future. Thoughts impact our feelings, immune system, healing or recovery of the body and mind, as well as our social interactions. Positive thinking generally has a positive effect in various areas of our lives, while negative thinking considerably limits us.

The See Bee Tee story book is an interactive tool for children, their parents or to anyone who would like to know some basics of positive thinking. The story is inspired by the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy concept (hence, the hidden CBT in the title) which is made into a set of fun activities. The book is designed to show negative thought patterns, and how to replace them with positive remedies. The coloring pages are aimed to reinforce 'right here' and 71 'right now' moments (via mindfulness) and to prompt young readers to have more discussion about the topics in the book. There is also a fun memory game starting on page 53, depicting the thought patterns with the main goal of improving the whole child's learning experience. It is mutually interactive, as the caregivers themselves can learn positive thought patterns, apply them in their own everyday lives, and become a role model for their children. See Bee Tee is written in a rhyming fashion which enables young readers to easily learn and memorize the message. The story also sends a message that sometimes life events can knock us down. However, with caring friends, new opportunities of learning, and finding new possibilities we can get back up again -- especially if we dare to try new things and push ourselves out of the comfort zone. See Bee Tee encourages us to be flexible and to enthusiastically restructure our life.