Coming to Queens... Boost Confidence.
Boost Tolerance. Boost Kids!

By Jeri Dayle as seen in the November 2006 edition of QueensParent.

Your kids are focused on academics, working to enhance math and reading skills. But how are they doing on the social graces, what many would term ‘all the other skills they need to succeed in life’?

Rob Heller couldn’t find a well-rounded program to help his son, who was struggling with character development, so he went out and created his own, Boost Kids, soon to be launched in Queens.

The program Heller launched in 2003 evolved from the tactics and skills he’d used in years of sales and business practice, blended with the ideas of child psychiatrists and educator consultants. The resulting product is a structure curriculum that teaches new skills and confidence and other key area of character development. Boost Kids’ diverse lessons and experiences foster the ability to effectively meet and greet people, make conversation, and handle disappointments and conflict. As children progress, they acquire more life strategies, including the coping skills needed to face difficult peer pressure situations.

Boost Kids is traditionally taught in small groups and is used by organizations such as the Police Athletic League (PAL), after school pro0grams, scout troops, and gyms and martial arts studios. The program started in Heller’s turf, Philadelphia, but later this fall, the Queens Library expects to feature the Book Kids curriculum as an element of its out-of-school-time program.

Boost Kids’ mission is simple, as its name suggests. The idea is to help children boost all-round confidence, including inter-personal skills, molding character, and inspiring positivism. The child who is being introduced to a family friend or who is meeting a new classmate learns to use the person’s name, make and maintain eye contact, be honest and respectful, and even walk up to others with confidence. Kids learn a variety of conversational, goal setting, and morale building techniques that will help them socially and also help them to be better students, especially when it comes to long-term projects, or standing and speaking in front of the class.

The Boost Kids learning format encompasses exercises, quotes from influential people like Dr. Martin Luther King, Think About It concepts, role playing, and real-life scenarios. The lessons conclude with a talking point such as “Life is there for the taking, make sure you grab it,” or “Doing something nice for others is addictive. Try it and you’ll see.”

When Boost Kids members work with a community partner, such as a library, Heller or executive director Charlie Copp train the trainers, offer step-by-step guidance, orient leaders, and deliver an instructor’s program book. Boost Kids also makes its curriculum available for at-home use; a kit includes a CD-ROM showing 28 different real-life scenarios, an activity book, a parent’s guide, and flash cards.

The in-home program features eight progressive lessons, from Meet and Greet to Strategies in Life. The lesson book includes illustrations and a fill-in page that helps to recap each section. The large coated flash cards include a topic, helpful tips related to that topic, and concepts to think about. One flash card, entitled “Treat People with Respect”, instructs, “Pointed out someone’s weakness or making fun of them does not accomplish anything. Instead, be respectful and encouragement and respond the way you would like to be treated.” The in-home program is $69.95, and Boost Kids offers a free trial option.

To learn more about the company, or to order the in-home program, visit www.boostkids.com. Schools or groups can email our Schools Division at schools@boostkids.com.

How BoostKids Can Help:
BoostKids is a program that can help increase a child’s confidence by teaching social skills to children and building their character.  BoostKids has been and is currently being taught in schools, non-profit organizations, and after-school programs.  The program is now available as an at-home training program for children and their parents.  The key training tool of the BoostKids program is an interactive CD-ROM that shows kids the right-way and the wrong-way to handle social situations.  They learn from real kid actors in real-life scenerios! 

For more information about what’s included in BoostKids, click here. 

ORDER NOW - Free 30-day Trial, click here.