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Olivia's Story + 5 ways to help your kids overcome their fears
What they don't teach you in school
Ivy Xu
June 23, 2023
Happy Friday!
In case you’re new here, Prequel is the free, twice-weekly newsletter for parents who want their kids to succeed. We give you weekly insights on how your children can get ahead ― in school and in life.
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💡How one student, Olivia, found her groove at Apollo
For this week’s student profile, I wanted to share the story of Olivia, who attends our Apollo program for kids ages 10-13. What I love the most about this story is how transformative the Apollo experience was for her.
Coming in, Olivia was really scared of speaking up in a room and found it difficult to find friends in school because she was shy. Apollo helped her grow her confidence as she challenged herself to build these impressive real-world projects within a deeply supportive community. It’s been so rewarding to watch her come out of her shell!
“I just want to say thank you for making this a safe place,” says Olivia. “Even at school, I don’t feel as respected as I am in here.”
The Apollo coaches “are not teachers,” says Olivia. “You are friends that are older than me, that help me succeed… You’re not teachers. There’s a big difference… It’s really, really awesome. I’ve learned so many things — more than I do at school!”
How can you help your kids overcome their fears, too, so they can shine like Olivia?
5 ways to help your kids overcome their fears (and reach their highest potential!)
Model courage when approaching new tasks.
Learning something new (not to mention something kids think they’re “too young” to do, like building a video game or an AI chatbot) can be daunting. But it doesn’t have to be.
Next time you’re learning something new, show your kids how even though you might be afraid of messing up, you’re willing to try it out anyway. And most importantly, show them that even when you do it wrong the first time (or the first hundred times!), you can always try again.
This will help kids learn that they can dive into learning without fear!
Celebrate mistakes.
Yes, seriously — celebrate mistakes.
If your child makes a mistake, that means they made an effort, put themselves out there, and learned something. Those all sound like reasons to celebrate to me!
Celebrating mistakes teaches your kids that mistakes are not something to fear. They’re just opportunities to learn.
If they try something new, the stakes are no longer about winning or losing. Because they’ll win either way — if they succeed, yay! If they don’t, they learned something!
The kids that see the world in this way go far.
Let them shine.
Challenges and mistakes build character. But you also want your child to be able to garner confidence from being allowed to shine, too. It’s like giving your child training wheels so they can start riding the bike sooner, and then taking them off once your child is ready for the next challenge.
At Apollo, kids are asked to build wildly ambitious projects, but they do so within a supportive atmosphere. Our program directors get to know their students and are constantly telling them what they’ve done well!
Encourage them to talk about their fears.
One of Olivia’s best traits is her honesty. She’s not afraid to say when she’s afraid!
This is so important, because when we hide behind our fears, they have the power to control us. But when we share our fears with others, we can challenge those fears and then overcome them!
Try it out — if your kid is afraid of doing something, ask them what they’re afraid will happen. Let them really talk about the scenario. What would they do if the worst happened? And then what would they do? And then what?
Maybe they’re afraid they’ll fail a test, but they already know that to avoid it happening again in the future, they’ll study hard for the next one. They’ll realize that even under the worst-case scenario, they’re already equipped to handle whatever comes their way.
Remember that fear is just an emotion, like any other.
When talking about things we’re scared of, we often talk about the fear as if it will happen. “If I fail my test, everyone will hate me.”
Help your kid rephrase that: “If I fail my test, I’m afraid that everyone will hate me.”
The fear is just that — fear. It’s not the be-all, end-all truth. So it’s important to help kids separate reality from the fear that’s making it up.
The world is changing fast. Is your child ready?
Preparing your child for the future isn’t optional anymore - it’s essential. Exploring a variety of topics now allows them to make informed decisions about their future and pursue unique opportunities.
Help them prepare for the unknown with Apollo.
Apollo is a program designed for ambitious kids aged 10-13 to spark their curiosity and set them to think big to seize great opportunities.
At Apollo your child will:
✅ Dive into topics that most of their peers might not touch until college—if ever
✅ Learn about future-shaping topics like artificial intelligence, business, and public speaking
✅ Engage in interactive workshops and projects to deeply explore topics that will shape the future
✅ Join a global community of ambitious young minds
Prepare your child for the future - enroll in Apollo today.
⚡️ 4 Tutorials & Guides
🚀 Community Highlights
☁️ Check out BETA Camp alumnus Rhett on the Cloud Nine Conversations podcast (link)
🌟 Prequel student Grace did an awesome interview with a Youtube channel with 50k+ subscribers (link)
📺 Summer 2020 BETA Camp alumnus Charlotte Lindsay Marron was featured in a profile by the University of British Columbia School of Business (link)
Thanks for reading!
Did you find this issue helpful? Let me know what you thought of today’s issue and what you’d like to see from us next time - just hit reply to this email.
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