In this episode with Rod Soper, we dive into his powerful journey from school leadership to pioneering early years wellbeing through thinkers.inq and the Playing With Gratitude Project. Rod shares why play and gratitude are foundational to mental health, how these practices are transforming children, educators and families, and why wellbeing must be nurtured long before the teenage years.
1. Wellbeing starts earlier than we realise
Children’s confidence and mental health foundations are already forming before school, not in the teenage years.
2. Real change scales through values-aligned partnerships
Rod’s collaboration with Fiona O’Donnell shows how shared values, not programs, drive impact, allowing gratitude and wellbeing practices to spread authentically across early learning centres and into families’ lives.
3. Play is essential to mental health
Play isn’t optional; without it, wellbeing suffers for children and adults.
4. Gratitude works even in hard seasons
Gratitude doesn’t erase struggle; it gently shifts perspective when life feels overwhelming.
5. Gratitude changes families, not just kids
Simple gratitude practices at school sparked deeper connection and calm at home.
6. Teachers must feel it before they teach it
Wellbeing sticks when educators experience it personally, not just deliver it as content.
7. Gratitude shapes babies before words exist
Even infants showed calmer behaviour and stronger attachment through gratitude-rich environments.
More About Rod Soper
Rod has spent more than three decades asking a deceptively simple question: What helps children flourish? His work suggests that gratitude, connection and the feeling of being valued sit at the heart of emotional wellbeing and learning. Rod is a writer, a coach and the co-founder of Thinkers.inq and Personhood360, and author of The Great Gratitude Surprise. He brings a hopeful, practical and research-informed approach that helps teachers and families alike build kindness, wellbeing and belonging into everyday.
Linkedin: Rod Soper
Book: The Great Gratitude Surprise
Website: The Playing with Gratitude Project & https://www.thinkersinq.com/
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