Why Children Need Joy: The fundamental truth about childhood [Hardcover]

This transformative book looks at one of the most undervalued aspects of childhood, joy. Using the latest neuroscience and biochemistry this book shows that joy, far from being an abstract concept, is one of the key motivators for every aspect of learning and development throughout childhood and something we ignore at our peril. The book gives concrete strategies for increasing the levels of joy in our children and highlights the catastrophic damage that a decline in joy can cause in our children especially in a post pandemic world. Suitable for anyone who works with children, this book puts forward a compelling argument that Joy is profoundly important for all of our children and can fundamentally help our children to thrive. 

Warning - may contain evil clowns!

This book asserts Joy as one of the most important building blocks of every child’s development and wellbeing. Using the latest research in neuroscience and biochemistry this book will demonstrate how critical simple moments of joy can be for children and the role of the adult in supporting joy through compassion.

Chapter 1: Simple moments of joy  Why joy is so undervalued and yet so important
Chapter 2: The joy of goo and big red buses!
Chapter 3: Expressions of joy  the joy of words and sounds
Chapter 4: The joy of movement and dancing elephants
Chapter 5: The joy of poo and a school for ninja
Chapter 6: Seek and destroy  The robot teachers are coming!
Chapter 7: Who Stole our joy?
Chapter 8: We are Celestial  Being a different sort of grown-up
Chapter 9: Simple equations for thriving  How compassion and joy can change not just children but our entire society.