Empowering Self-Love within our Kiddos
It’s love month! A perfect time to talk about self-love. February is often focused on showing and giving love to others. You may be preparing your kid's Valentine’s Day boxes and cards this week which can be a lot of work and stress as a parent. There are benefits for Valentine’s Day activities as it provides children the opportunity to show their love, but also receive love from others building social-emotional and communication skills.
Why it’s important to show others’ love, February can also be a month of practicing self-love. Do you find it easy to love others, but hard to love yourself? You are not alone! It is easy to give love to others, but not ourselves. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, self-love is the appreciation of one’s worth or virtue. It is having a deep appreciation and acceptance of who you are as a person. When you hear the word “self-love” you may automatically think “self-esteem.”. Self-love and self-esteem are often used interchangeably, however, self-esteem is a feeling of having respect for yourself or more so how you see yourself. Very similar, but slightly different.
As you prepare and participate in Valentine’s Day activities with your kids, have a conversation about self-love. This can be a great starting point to empower our kids to love themselves. Start by asking them to identify someone they love and why they may think they love them. Next, ask them, “Who is someone that loves you? Why do you think they love you? There are three main areas of self-love we can empower our kids in: mental, physical, and emotional. We can empower them to love their brains, their bodies, and their feelings and character. Learning to love themselves as such a young age helps them create a foundation to understanding who they are and promotes skills to use when they are older.
Three reasons to practice self-love according to science:
It increases resiliency.
It increases productivity.
It decreases stress.
Before we can empower our kids to practice self-love, we need to be mindful of how we display self-love to ourselves. It starts by becoming aware of how you treat and talk to yourself. Do you talk to yourself in a negative or uplifting way? Challenge your thoughts and consider if you would want your child to talk to themselves that way. Engaging in positive self-talk can be a powerful thing and something you can encourage your kids to do. This would create a positive bonding opportunity modeling positive self-talk. Incorporating positive affirmations is another great strategy to teach.
Also, be mindful of how you talk about your children to others. Kids can be so frustrating at times and it IS healthy to talk about your feelings with others but do it in a safe place. Be mindful of where your child is to prevent them from overhearing negative things you may be saying about themselves.
Bringing awareness to your kid’s strengths is another way to empower self-love. Make a list or download a strengths worksheet to help your child see their strengths (see options below). It is so easy to focus on things we are not good at or areas of weakness, especially when we make mistakes. Teach them to learn from mistakes, but also to celebrate their accomplishments. This activity can help shift your child’s perspective and view of themselves. You can even discuss your own strengths and weaknesses to provide examples. Sharing this teaches them we all have weaknesses and that is okay; we are able to learn and grow to improve in those areas.
Additionally, this conversation can lead to encouraging your child to stretch beyond their comfort zones. Encouraging children to explore different activities and interests can allow them to get out of their comfort zones. They may feel challenged, nervous, scared, but they may find new activities they love and excel at! These feelings provide valuable lessons and overcoming them gives them the confidence to overcome them in future situations.
Lastly, as I mentioned prior, giving to others is powerful. Handing out Valentine’s day cards is just one way for kids to learn the value of giving. It is a way to show love. We can also do acts of kindness to show love, such as opening the door for someone, picking up trash in the neighborhood, or giving someone a compliment. Encourage acts of kindness and times of serving as it promotes positive feelings within ourselves
These are just a few ways to empower your children to love themselves, but you can also use them to empower yourself! Remember to take time for yourself and you deserve love just as much as children. We can’t give our best self unless we take care of ourselves. Take time away to do something that brings you joy even if it’s only for a few minutes.
Self-Love Activities:
Self-Love Challenge- Create and hang affirmation hearts on your bedroom doors!
https://kristenhewitt.me/will-you-take-the-february-self-love-challenge-2/
A Positive Affirmation Jar- Cut out small hearts and write a positive affirmation on each one. Decorate a jar and put all the hearts in it. Each day wake up and pull out a heart to start the day on a positive note.
Acts of Love- Write down acts of kindness on hearts, attach them to sticks and create a bouquet.
