Design Solution
Happiness Kit is our humble attempt to enable working professionals with a non-digital, real-life toolkit to enhance their own emotional well-being while juggling between work, children, and personal needs.
Also, Happiness Kit is a comprehensive hamper equipped with non-verbal cue kits to allow communication between parents and children during working hours in a non-intrusive and less frustrating way.
It further has tools to help parents to convey the need and importance of ME time to children in a fun manner while being considerate to children's feelings.
Happiness Kit comprises the following : 1. Safe Communication Board with Emotion Cards This board is designed to create a safe space for children and parents to express their feelings and emotions non-verbally using emotion cards in a way that doesn't interfere with the daily activities of the individual. And when they individual sees it, it triggers a conversation about what they feel.
2. Bonding Activities Kit a) Art Together Activity Kit consists of coloring booklets where both parents and children color similar-looking drawings and/or to bring in closeness between them using relatable concepts. (eg. Kid colors a baby elephant and parent colors a huge elephant, a single art piece which has outlines and prompts where the adult should paint and where the children should paint) <Through this, they create something together and have physical artefacts to remember, cherish and connect. >
b) Tell Together Activity Kit consists of a deck of emoji cards with several emotions (happy, sad, excited, etc) along with a deck of slips containing names of the emotions. Once a slip is chosen, they have to pick an emoji card and explain why they think it is what it is or tell a story when they felt that emotion. <Through this, there is emotional awareness and closeness between them>
c) Cook Together Activity Kit consists of simple ingredients and instructions for the child and the parent to cook dishes individually and then share the food eat together. <Through this, they collectively cook dishes and bond over meals >
3. Happy Universe Kit consists of a light strip and two cards, "Galaxy Card" and "Sun Card" that denotes Family time and Me time respectively. Light strip is used to change the color setting as per Family time and Me time.
Journey: Unleash the power of Happiness Kit:
1. Whenever the kid/parent feels uncomfortable, they expresses what they feel using the emotion card on the Safe Communication Board. They could further elaborate through words and drawings using notes. (eg. Kid writes "I miss you mom")
2. Now, the kid/parent becomes aware of how the other person feels when they see the board. This triggers a healthy conversation between the two and encourages one another to share and express what they feel honestly. (eg. Mom reads it and tries to understand what the child meant, why the child wrote it, and then take action)
3. They pick the Galaxy Card from the “Happy Universe Cards” and put it on the "Safe Communication Board" at a time that is appropriate to both of them so that now they don't forget to spend time together
4. When it is time to spend time together, they pick one of the activities from the "Bonding Kit " (eg. They pick "Art Together" and decide to color the big art piece as per the instruction where adults and children have specific portions on the art piece to be colored.)
5. They express their feeling of connection and happiness on the Safe Communication Board using the Emotion cards.
6. The parent picks the “Sun Card” from the “Happy Universe Cards” which indicates “Time to enjoy by yourself” and hangs it on the timeline on the Safe Communication Board.
7. The parent changes the lighting to a different color at the appropriate time and the children understand that it is “Time to enjoy by yourself” and do their own thing without disturbing the parent.
8. Parent gets “Me Time” and is able to focus on himself/herself
Impact : 1. By using a combination of cards and the Communication Board, Happiness Kit enables a non-verbal and non-intrusive way of communication while creating a safe space to express what a parent/child feels.
2. Parents can now bond with their children with the designed toolkits and feel spend quality time and make memories that they would cherish.
3. Parents can easily establish when they want “ME time” and focus on themselves guilt-free, thus making them feel better and more fulfilled which eventually helps in the betterment of their mental health and their children's.