Do you have a child who always says “no” to you? Are AQ (resilience), EQ, HQ (health quotient), and SQ (social quotient) more important than IQ for raising children? How about having kids educate themselves on these important life attributes?
Here is how my daughter Yaya and I came with the idea of creating her YouTube channel 5QKid, a way that she can learn and teach herself (and perhaps other kids along the way) overcoming adversities and thriving with a happy resilient mind, compassionate heart, and healthy body.
It started with our mutual frustration over the big “No!” Raising a young child with Crohn’s Disease is emotionally and physically stressful, especially when your child’s automatic first response to everything is “doom and gloom”. As a mother, I feel largely at fault because for years I jumped and screamed “No,,,,,!” when Yaya picked up food with dirty hands and ate it, rubbed her eyes with germy fingers, or touched a public doorknob, every single time, as my heightened reactive response to weekly infections in her mouth, digestive tract, and/or eyes, as well as frequent ER runs.
After Yaya’s diagnosis of Crohn’s, her pediatric GI doctor explained to me that children with Crohn’s do have a tendency to feel grumpy due to the chronic pain and discomfort in their body.
Still, as Yaya is growing and advancing in school, her attitude started affecting her social interactions and grades. Every day at home, we are fighting a big headwind too. Discussions around grit, positivity, the true meaning of loving self and others, go round and round for 2 years but walking the talk has been extremely hard. So, finally, we agreed to create a YouTube channel for Yaya to learn and teach her self (more importantly to reinforce actions) about overcoming adversity and thriving with strong 5Qs, so she can grow up healthy, happy, compassionate, resilient, and smart.
Please watch Yaya’s story here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0eNiEI2-P8