Affirmations are powerful. It is no wonder that telling yourself positive statements can lead to increased self-esteem, better confidence and more stable mental health. Have you ever thought about sharing this powerful tool with your kids? It can be a great tool for your children, as well! Getting your children into the daily habit of saying things to themselves like:
- I am courageous.
- I am strong.
- I am smart.
- I am kind.
- I am loved.
- I am thankful.
Just think what our world would be like if our children walked around believing these things about themselves?! I know what you are thinking. I can hardly get my children to say hello to friends and compliment siblings, never mind list off a bunch of positive statements about themselves. The key is to make affirmations a little more exciting, visual and accessible.
Here are seven effective ways to get children to do daily affirmations:
- Write affirmations (draw pictures representing affirmations) with whiteboard pens on their bathroom mirror. This is a great way to incorporate affirmations into a morning and nighttime routine because they will be right there as they brush their teeth and wash their face.
- Make an affirmations board with them and hang it right by your front door. If doing affirmations with your kids sounds a little daunting, this may be a good way to try it out. Put some pictures and words on posterboard that represent affirmations. Speak the affirmations out loud as you exit the house!
- Buy them affirmations bracelets and let them choose which ones to wear day to day. Not only does this provide variety day to day, this is also great way to remind your children of their worth! They can wear them to school or when they go over to a friend’s house. If they ever need a reminder, all they have to do is look down at their arm!
- Model affirming them and let them practice affirming you. Practice this until they can do it for themselves. Modeling behavior for your children is a great way to solidify something as a habit. They truly will emulate whatever you do, so why not make saying affirmations a new habit!
- Make an affirmations jar. Write affirmations on different colors of paper and cut them into strips. Place the strips into a mason jar. Then you can even decorate it. Everyday pull a few affirmations and read them out loud. This is a great way to get hesitant kids involved because they love the “surprise” element of it.
- Purchase an affirmations playdoh kit. Sensory play is a great way for little kids to start to learn about the world. Affirmations can feel inaccessible to little kids. That is why I made the affirmations playdoh kit. It is a fantastic way for kids to start understanding affirmations via hands on play. Buy the kit at my Etsy Shop.
- Record affirmations and play them on repeat. If all else fails, you can always record affirmations on your phone or a CD and press play before bed, in the morning, in the car or even when your kids are asleep. It doesn’t have to be a big production. They don’t even have to be paying attention or awake. Their subconscious mind will still pick up the positive benefits!
If you liked this blog post you might also like How To Make A Vision Board With Your Child.