Positive affirmations for kids are essential for children just like nutrition, sleep and exercise. They help kids develop resilience, confidence and self-belief so they can tackle life’s toughest challenges.
Children learn best when positive affirmations are shared daily and regularly. This can be done during a morning routine, at lunchtime or before bed.
1. Help Your Child Understand the Power of Affirmations
Affirmations are powerful for kids because they teach them to rewire negative thoughts into more positive ones. However, for affirmations to work, they need to be repeated regularly. It’s best to add them into a daily routine, such as before school or at bedtime, so they become part of their subconscious beliefs.
It’s also helpful to help them understand that they can use positive affirmations during difficult situations as a way to soothe themselves and feel better. You can do this by sharing stories of people who used positive self-talk to overcome their challenges and achieve their goals.
You can also make it fun for them by encouraging them to come up with their own affirmations. This will give them ownership of the process and make them more likely to use it. You can also encourage them to write their affirmations down in a journal or on a poster. Then, they can look back on their progress and see how much their mindset has changed over time.
2. Remind Your Child of Their Strengths
The power of affirmations is incredibly powerful, especially for children who are learning to overcome challenges or feel challenged. Children of all ages can benefit from positive affirmations, whether they are working through their emotions after a big loss or trying to learn new information for school.
Help them identify their strengths so they can be reminded of these during negative situations and regain a sense of calm. This can be as simple as listing their traits in front of a mirror or giving them affirmations during a neutral time when they are receptive.
Encourage them to cheer on their friends when they do well and remind them that it is normal to make mistakes. This can be a great opportunity to use stories from our popular Big Life Journal (ages 7-10) to teach children about other people’s experiences and ask them what they think these famous people told themselves during their hardest moments to keep moving forward.
3. Remind Your Child That They Are Loved
Reminding children that they are loved is a powerful affirmation. Whether they are feeling down about a test score or anxious about moving into KS3 or Secondary School, positive affirmations can help them feel confident and supported.
Affirmations are most effective when they are repeated frequently. You can help kids create this habit by incorporating them into their routines. For example, reciting a few affirmations during nightly bath time or at bedtime can help reinforce neural pathways that support their positive self-image.
You can also encourage them to practice positive thinking by creating an affirmation board together. Grab a poster board or cork board and encourage them to write or draw affirmations about themselves on it. You can also add pictures or words that describe their strengths and things they want to achieve, and then help them visualize themselves saying those affirmations out loud. This is a great way to teach the power of visualisation, which can help them turn their affirmations into beliefs.
4. Encourage Your Child to Visualize
Affirmations aren’t just a great way to boost kids’ confidence, they also help them learn how their thoughts and beliefs impact how they feel and act. This is a valuable life lesson for kids of any age, but it’s particularly important during times of stress or difficulty.
To reinforce positive self-talk, it’s important that children practice affirmations regularly until they genuinely believe them. To encourage this, get creative with how you incorporate them into their daily routines. For example, try saying positive statements together in the mirror while they brush their teeth or before bedtime. You can also encourage them to use affirmations as a tool to help them overcome challenging situations by re-framing obstacles as opportunities for growth and resilience.
Another fun affirmation activity is creating an affirmation board or gratitude journal with them. This can be done by drawing or finding pictures that illustrate their values, things they want to achieve, and who they would like to become.
