Celebrate World Children's Day! Emotional Learning into Positive Change -The Americas area-

Heat. Heat. — Hi, good morning, good afternoon, and good evening to everyone joining us from around the world. It's a privilege to welcome you all to the Papa Festival Global Live stream to 2025. Coming to you live on YouTube on this very special occasion of UNICEF World Children's Day. Today we're not just celebrating a day. We're celebrating the voice and vision of young people across the globe. We were joined by youth leaders from Nepal, India, Ukraine, and Japan earlier today. And now from Mexico, Peru, Korea, and the United States. all bringing their stories, energy, and ideas to inspire action and empathy in their communities. World Children's Day remind us that every young person deserves a chance to be heard, to belong, and to lead. And that's exactly what Papa Festival stands for. Creating spaces where emotions are celebrated, creativity is nurtured, and connection becomes the spark for global change. So, wherever you are tuning in from, thank you for being here. Uh today we are amplifying the message that children and youth are not just the future, they're the heartbeat of the present. Let's listen, learn, and celebrate the incredible impact we can make when we come together as one. We have amazing young change maker joining us today. So let's say hi to our inspired panelists. Um, please tell us your name, country, one favorite pop book activity and why. Uh, let's start with Soan, then David, then Anna and Devon, please. — Hello everyone. My name is Elodie. Um, I'm from Soul, South Korea, but I'm currently based in Chicago, the United States. My favorite popup activity is something called heart math intuitive listening. So, for those of you who aren't familiar with this activity, you basically start with a brief breathing exercise to make sure that you're actually arrived in the moment and then one person talks for about a minute about a small personal topic and then the other person just listens. No interruptions, no jumping in for reactions and then after that the listener mirrors back on what they've just heard on. And I love this activity because it reminds me of how rare this kind of interaction is. And since so many people struggle with they struggle to stay present in conversations, giving someone your full heart and your full ear for one minute feels like a gift because it creates this instant sense of trust and connection. — Thank you, Sophian. David, can you go next? — Yeah, of course. Uh, well, my name is David Dainci and first I want to thank everybody for this opportunity so special for me. I'm from Mexico. Um, uh, let me think. Um, my favorite popup activity, I think, is this motion map. uh because it help us recognize what we feel and also give it a name because uh I think when a child understands their emotion they can transform it into something positive and I also love it because uh it's a simple tool uh but it also transform lights because we came to this world to be happy. So that's my favorite popup activity the motion map. Thank you, David. Anya, can you go next? — Um, yes. Um, hi to everybody. I also want to say thank you for this beautiful opportunity and for giving me the chance to share my testimony as a leader, as a change maker here from Peru. And well, my favorite popup activity is one

that is called Ali Briggs and me, which allow us to build construct new creatures um using parts of the body of other creatures that best represents ourselves. I love this activity because it involves to it involves a lot of creativity. You can create a creature that has never been before but it has many things many positive things from other creatures and it is all developed of your imagination. It's a good way to deploy your creativity and also to express in a simple image in a simple picture your values your desires what values what characteristics of animals are important for you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Anna. And can we go next with Devon, please? — Hi. Thank you as well for having me. Um, my favorite pop-up event is probably the wish chain where you get to write a wish and then everybody writes a wish. you get to create this super pretty long chain that goes around and it's really interesting just to see um what people really wish for and I think people from all different ages really enjoy it. — Thank you so much Stephan. Um so thank you everyone so David Anna and Devon for sharing and today we would like to discuss with you how emotional intelligence learning helps children and youth to grow and thrive. So, I'll be making you a few questions so the audience can hear your experience and point of view. Uh, so let's start with this one. What's one wish you have for the world? David, do you want to go first? Yeah, of course. Um, well, um, my wish, let me think. Well, um I think my wish is that all children around the world uh can grow up uh emotionally healthy. Um learning to understand themselves and to care themselves and to respect each others because uh I think when a child learns to manage their emotions, they also can build a kinder and more just and more human world. Uh so that's my wish. Well, thank you, J. Um, Soph, you want to go next? — Yeah, of course. I could jump in. Well, my wish for the world is that love and empathy would spread so widely that no one would ever be homeless or hungry again. And it's not because every problem magically disappears, but because people would naturally take care of each other. So if someone was struggling, the rest of it would step in without hesitation. And I hope for a world where kindness is so normal that people would never allow someone else to suffer alone. And I also hope empathy becomes so deeply woven into our lives that it's not is no longer value that we have to talk about and it's just who we are. So compassion, empathy isn't a slogan or workshop topic anymore. It's just the way how [clears throat] we instinctively treat each other and that's my hope for the world. — Thank you Sim. That was beautiful. Demon, you want to continue? — Yeah. Um, if I had one wish, I would wish for children to everywhere to have a safe place to grow up. Um, I think whether it's a safe home, a safe school, or a safe community, if kids feel protected and supported, they have a better chance to develop to their full potential and grow into kind and confident adults that can make a positive impact on the world. — Thank you, Jon. That's a really positive wish. And Anna, can you share with us too? — Yes, of course. Well, if I had a wish for the world, I think that I would love to see that everybody, my family, my friends have like a small machine that allows them to recognize what they are feeling, thinking and what action they are going to do. Because I know that the six seconds um organization which is also hosting this event has like a tool which says that we have to first rec recognize our emotion feel then recognize the thoughts that came

because of that emotion our thoughts our think and then we act. So there are like three steps that the six seconds organization will um teach us to to make in every behavior to recognize in every behavior in every situation of our life. And I think that this is something really important to help us act in a better way. Not act just like what our emotion is telling us. Recognize first the emotion and act in the best way possible. but also understanding our emotion. And I think that if everybody have this little machine that help them recognize what they are feeling, what they are thinking and help them decide what to act, we can live in a better world, in a more safety world. And it would be a little machine that doesn't exist, but it's will help us grow in different ways of our life. Thank you. — Thank you, Ha. That's was very creative answer. Thank you for sharing. Um for everyone, what is one unique talent or strength you have that you use to help others? Anyone can go. I can jump in. Uh, so I'm really good at remembering small details that matter to people and just tiny moments that most other people will forget. So someone will mention their favorite snack or childhood fear or even their name of their grandmother. And this skill helps me to bring people bring together people who normally wouldn't ever talk to each other. So different ages, different personalities, cultures. And because I remember these small details, I can naturally find the threads that link together, link people together. So, for example, I'll say something like, "Oh, hey, you two actually have a similar experience back in middle school. " And then suddenly two people who are strangers are laughing like they've known each other for years. And I believe these like unexpected moments of connection or friendship makes the communities around me like warm and alive. — Thank you so much. So here and David would you like to share with us too? — Yeah, of course. Um well uh when unique talent um I believe my strangest uh strength is turning my emotions into action and that's how my cadus was born a platform created by me with artificial intelligence that provides emotional intelligence tools for children and young people. Uh I also love inspiring other kids to see that their boys also matters and they can be leaders starting today. So that's one unique talent or strength that I used to help others. — Thank you so much David and Anna. Can you share with us too? Um okay. Well um a unique talent or a strange that I have that I used to share with others and I that I used to help others is that I am really good at teaching and at explaining things. So whenever a friend at university or a friend at my neighborhood has a problem with their studies, well I can explain them and I have a a good ability to do expositions and I also really good at giving in that line. I am also be really good at giving um some kind of advices. I love to encourage others to for example face their fears, get more confidence and that's unique talent or strength that I have and I love to give advices to other people and also to explain them some things when I can. Thank you. And Devon, please. Um, I think one unique um, strength is I'm really good at understanding when someone's kind of a little bit not okay. Even when they're acting like they're fine or if they are laughing at something, but really it hurts a little bit inside. Which I think is important because even if they don't really realize it, it can be important that someone realizes it and someone is able to ask them, hey, are you okay? which can really help strengthen like friendships and friend groups. — Thank you, Devon. And there's this is the next question

for everyone. If we can imagine a world where every child feels safe and heard, what does that world look like for each one of you? — So, you want to start? — Sure. Um, it's a really good question because so many children grow up in systems that weren't built for them and classrooms can unintentionally silence kids, especially when um their race, their gender or religion doesn't match the dominant norm in systems that silence their stories or treat their identities like something a problem to manage instead of things to honor. And children from especially in the US, children from certain cultural or racial backgrounds are punished uh more harshly, interrupted more often, and they're labeled as aggressive for expressing the same exact emotions that their peers are allowed to show. So, a world where every child feels safe and heard for me would mean that those patterns finally end. So educators will understand the histories um that students carry. Kids don't have to code switch to fit in. They don't have to carry the stereotype threat or worry that their story isn't the right kind of story to tell. And just kids growing up knowing that voices matter, that's when children's really feel heard and safe. Thank you so much. And David, do you want to go next? — Yeah, of course. Well, um uh that board I think uh that's a good question. like um I think that world will be um a place where school teach emotion just like math just normal you know where adults listened with patient um where children can express fear um joy and even sadness without being judged. uh it will be a world with less violence and more empathy uh where every child understands that their story matters and that their boys can change the world too. So that's how I imagine the world where every child can be healed. — Thank you Jon please can you answer too? Yeah. Um I think a place where kids will feel safe and kids will feel heard would really be centered around um them being taught that their voices matter from a young age and also them being really encouraged to speak up. So in schools for example, instead of just the people who want to raise their hands being the ones who are sharing their opinions, having everybody be given a chance to share their opinions. Um, I also think having help available in schools, um, if someone's struggling mentally or physically or being really able to give kids the chance to develop their opinions to their full potentials. — Thank you, Anna. Can you go next? — Um, yes. Well, I think A world where every child feels safe and heard is a world where what is practiced the value of values according to the Simonola methodology and which is the value of values the confidence confidence. So when we are talking about feeling safe and feeling heard we are also talking about feeling confidence. So how does a world where children feel confident would look like? I think where ch where children are yes go having are given the opportunity to express their emotions but also when children and young people as us um teenagers as us are given the chance to start their own entrepreneurships their own small business and learn by doing. I think that a world where children feel safe and heard is also a world where children can start building up their dreams can start changing the world improving it in the way they think it's the best one when children and young people

as us are given the opportunity to jump in the world to start making changes to start making like these pop-up festivals which are an incredible activity when we meet children teenagers from many people from around the world and we do this interesting activities. I think these type of activities and giving us teenagers and kids and young people the opportunity to d leader them are in a way empowering us and a war where children feel safe and heard is a word when they are giving the then when they are empowered and when they are given the opportunity to start um doing changing the world in the best way they think it exists. So I think it's important to also highlight the importance of empowering the kids, giving them that confidence, giving them that chance to start well and building up their dreams. Thank you. — Thank you for your amazing answers to all of you. And there's one more question that I will like for you to answer. What's one challenge in our world that you feel curious about exploring? Something you would like to understand better or maybe contribute fresh ideas to? Like if you could think about one challenge, I could begin with um I'm a huge science person. Um, and as an aspiring neuroscientist, my research interest lies in the biological underpinnings of emotions and how the brain processes different physiological body states and how those um changes impact our emotions. And I believe one reason why we talk about physical wellbeing way more often than emotional wellbeing is because we know a lot more about it. There's way more research done about physical well-being. So, I hope that scientific research can help people be more aware of emotional intelligence and possibly help them develop it. — Thank you. So, um Anna, could you go next? — And yes, of course. Well, a challenge in our world that I feel really curious about and I am and a challenge that I am actually trying to solve in a way is the challenge of innovation in education. [snorts] Well, I think here in Peru um and many developed underdeveloped countries — [snorts] — um the education is not centered in emotions in intelligent emotionals in tools to build your business in tools to um to engage with your team to manage teams. Mostly the education is focused on hard skills not soft skills. And I was thinking that in how can we improve that challenge and last year no this year at the start of this year I direct a hackathon. I don't know if you know what it is about, but it's a small compet it's a small competition with many young people from around the world that they are developing a solution for a problem the leader of the hackathon um [snorts] puts on the table and the teams in that competition um try to develop a solution and the best solution will wins a prize or just a recognition. So um the in the end of this year uh with the directors of the evergreen state college at Washington we create um a hackathon from people from India from um Tanzania from Peru and from United States and we there practice these tools I am referring to this of the skills these tools to build your business to manage your emotions to manage teams we practice all these this um this task with people there with young um with young adults there and we could put that in practice. We did a hackathon. Well, we didn't not have many participants but it was a good start. And yeah, I am really curious in a way making better this education we have in underdeveloped countries that is not only focused on hard skills but also in soft skills because what is what difference us from machines that is what well now we say that intelligent that artificial intelligence is going to replace many jobs but what can't be replaced is the soft skills that humans develop such as leadership such as well the manage of the teams and many

others of the skills that machines cannot replace. — Thank you so much Ha for your answer. Uh anyone wants to go next? — Sure. Um I'm really interested in because social media has become such a big part of everybody's lives, how it can be used to help with mental health problems, especially in teens. um because it's been found that it causes can cause some harm to people. Um and I think it can be really interesting to you to figure out how you can use a platform that can access so many people to really help a lot of people. — Thank you so much, Stephan. Uh David, — yeah, of course. Uh um well um that's a good question. Um I'm very interested um in the challenge of emotional health in the digital age. um we are more connected than ever but sometimes we feel alone even with all the technology that is around us and I want to explore how technology can help us care uh for our emotions instead of harming them and how it can create community uh I don't know promote identity and and help children express themselves better I think they there is so much uh that we can innovate there and and that's what one challenge uh that I'm curious to explore. — Thank you so much David. Wow. Uh we covered a lot today right? Um to reflect I would like to ask our panelists if you are recommending Papa Festival to your friends what would you say what is something you like about Papa Festival like in very briefly uh like if you can talk about that with us. I can start. Um, yes, please. — If I were recommending Papa Festival to the people that I love, I would tell them that even though it celebrates World Children's Day, you don't have to wait for November 20th to do the activities. Uh, because the pop-up resources on 6 seconds website or pop-up eek pop-up Instagram are very low cost. Usually we don't need any other materials and you can work with any age. You can use them in classrooms with your kids at home with your families or even with adults and with just a tweak of the methods you can also use it for your own emotional well-being. And I really love the pop of community here. So people from all over the world like here Peru, United States, Mexico, people from all over the world who care about the same thing show up on the same day just in different time zones trying to make um emotional well-being more accessible. It feels really good being a big part of a global circle that's learning, creating, and influencing others all together. — Thank you, Sakian. And Leon, can you go next? — Yeah. Um, I think if I were to recommend this to a friend, I would talk about how it's not only a meaningful way to learn things about people and how they think and their opinions, but it's also a way that you guys can both enjoy and bond over different activities in creative ways. Thank you Devin. Um David, can you answer? — Yeah, of course. Um uh well um I tell them that popup uh is a space where you can be yourself and also learn about your emotions through playing and innovating activities. Uh and I also love that it connects us like as a global community and remind us that feeling is not a weakness. It's a superpower and we can do a lot of things with emotional intelligence and that's what I will tell my friends about popup festival. — Thank you David Anna. Can you share with us like a short answer with that? Well, if I would recommend or if I would

invite someone to do a popup activity, I would say that it's an interesting tool to get to know us better because many of the pop-up festivals are about identifying your emotions, understanding them, knowing when you feel it. For example, the activity that I like that it's alri and me. You construct an animal that it's made of a of it has parts of the body of others but it reflects your qualities. So there are really um tools to know you better and I think we are never going to know us at all. But the first step I think in the in practicing emo emotional intelligence in becoming a leader is to know us better. to know our identity, our essence. And that's it, I think. Thank you. — Thank you, Anna. Um, thank you everyone for being part of this incredible global moment. And as we wrap up Papa Festival global liveream, I want to take a moment to appreciate the energy, vulnerability, and leadership of our youth that has brought to this space from Asia, Europe, the Americas. every story, every voice, and every insight of our panelists today reminded us why emotional learning truly matters. Uh to our audience, you just witnessed young leaders modeling what hope, courage, and connections looks like in action. And before we close, I would like to invite all of you watching to keep this movement alive and keep celebrating. We would love for you, your schools, your teams, and your communities to join us. Um, let's build more spaces where young people feel seen, valued, and empowered to lead with heart. So, don't forget to sign up for pop-up festival. And this year, we are sharing a special campaign called Blooming Kindness um as act of kindness, commal shapes, small gestures, meaningful worlds, uh moments of presence. So in this activity, we invite you to plant a flower in our kindness garden uh and celebrate it through a simple and creative act that remind us how kindness grows when we share it. Uh so please do this activity in your community and share with us using our official hashtags # worldchildren's day and # eq popup and follow us on Instagram at eqpop and sixcq for more free resources. So as we sign off here's the call to action. Celebrate, participate, spread kindness. Join Papa Festival, take part in blooming kindness and keep fueling the movement where emotional learning becomes global impact. And thank you for tuning in, for showing up with heart. And for everyone uh carrying this energy forward and together as one, let's keep building a world where young voices lead the way. So I invite all our participants if we can say happy word children's day together to everyone on the count of three. That sounds some fun. Okay. One, two, three. Happy world day. — Happy world children's day. — Thank you. — If this was helpful, would you please comment, like, share, and subscribe? The Emotional Intelligence Network is your community to grow and practice EQ. At 6 seconds, that means being smarter with feelings. And we're here to provide practical, proven EQ tools. so workplaces, schools, and people can thrive everywhere in the world. Be sure to visit 6cseconds. org to find the complete suite of resources, assessments, and programs. Thank you for watching.