We all know the importance of self-love and the powerful effect it can have on us. Some self-love journeys can take time but eventually achieving a high level of self-love is so important. Not just for us, but for our children as well. As we all want to be the best kind of role models for our children, there’s no better way for children to learn to love themselves than by seeing it from their very own role models, aka you. Here are some ways to teach your children the practices of self-love and have them grow up to be confident, loving individuals.
Practice Affirmations with Them
We all need to remind ourselves of our self-worth from time to time. There are many studies that have confirmed that the practice of self-love affirmations can help improve both your confidence and self-esteem. The next time you practice affirmations, have your children involved. Run through your favorite affirmations and have your children repeat them with or after you. Doing so will help raise your children’s self-confidence and possibly encourage them to repeat affirmations on their own as well.
Have Them Embrace Their Unique Styles
We all remember the feeling of being a child and being somewhat exploratory with our fashion sense. As our kids get older, they’ll only be more curious about the styles they like. While some of them may be a fashion no-no in our eyes, it’s only helpful to encourage our kids to embrace the styles that they feel most comfortable in. Showing that we encourage and support them no matter what is the perfect way to let our kids know that we’re comfortable with who they are, no matter what their kind of style may be. This isn’t only related to wardrobe but with hair as well. As every child often wants to play with their hair color, if your child feels the same, encourage them to try a semi-permanent hair color option. Using a semi-permanent hair dye will let your kids explore different kinds of hair colors while also not permanently damaging their hair.
Encourage Them to Be Themselves
As your children get older, you’ll find that they’ll each develop more of their personalities and what their hobbies and interests are. Whether they’re highly interested in chess, being on the football team or they want to paint more, our job as parents is to support them and encourage whatever endeavors they want to venture out on. Knowing that they have our full support will mean a lot to them and help them embrace who they really are.
Encourage Them to Give to Others
Nothing helps to make someone feel good about themselves like giving back to the community. In a time where helping the earth and the community is more important than ever, encourage your children to do the same and help a local cause. Depending on what they’re passionate about, there are thousands of charities that your children can help give time too. If your children are fashionista’s, encourage them to thrift by shopping at their local salvation army or by visiting an online thrift shop. If your children are passionate about animals, have them volunteer at a local pet shelter or even consider adopting a rescue animal for the whole family! What’s most important is to lead by example. If your children see you taking the time to help the world, they’ll feel encouraged to do the same. A great way to fit in some bonding time is to find a charity that both of you are passionate about and volunteer together. Whether it’s donating old clothes, giving money to eco-friendly charities or giving food to a local shelter, encouraging your kids to give back will help to make them feel confident and worthy of self-love.
These are all great ideas. I would add to the list, especially for “exceptional” kiddos with their own unique struggles, a few more. For our LD daughter who struggles just to get out of the house in the morning, reminding her of her own power to make good choices, and especially that she has a HUGE team of people who love her unconditionally and are all pulling for her to figure out what therapies and techniques work best, is a HUGE self-confidence booster!
That is an amazing post to help kids be more in touch with themselves. I specially loved how you say for them to embrace their unique styles.
I hope these are things I am doing well and often with my kids.
YES YES YES! I am always doing these things!
This is such a wonderful read. Teaching our kids about loving themselves is very important. This has been one of our discussions during our parenting class.
Thank you for sharing these tips. It is about time we practice affirmations with them.
Loved this post – this is the kind of mom I want to be.
Self love and care is so important. Love teaching our kids to embrace their uniqueness and what makes them special.
Great tips! It is so important to help our children see all their great qualities and believe in themselves (and the earlier, the better).
Encouraging children to be themselves and embracing their personality is the best advice someone can give to a new parent. It’s so important to not hide and be afraid of who they are, when they grow up.
I love this post. It’s amazing what a child can do when you encourage them.
Beautiful post! Encouraging our children to love themselves is the best gift we can give them!!
I agree, nothing feels as good as doing for others!! Love this post
I love this post! Growing up in my generation this wasn’t a thing and I wish it would have been.
True. We need to impart self-love right from their childhood. It’s difficult to make habits when they are grown. Great post.
True. We need to impart self-love right from their childhood. It’s difficult to make habits when they are grown. Great post. Thanks for sharing.
It’s better to teach them young. I try to teach self – love every day to my daughter.
What great suggestions to help your children, these are so good
I am a teacher and I see more of self-esteem issues because little kids don’t know how to communicate their ideas and feelings fully just yet. I keep on every day encouraging my students to love themselves but also try their best and believe in themselves. Teaching kids what is self-love is really important.
OMG YES! To all of this! As an adult that’s only learning about self-love and self-care over the last couple years, its always on my mind about how I’d cultivate that early for my children when I have them. These tips really make sense and are something I will register in my heart 🙂
self-expression is very important. great tips!
It’s really important to teach them young. Great post. Will share this with my niece
Great lesson for any parent right here. Thank you for sharing.
very informative post. I agree that encouraging kids to be/love themselves is a great motivation for them to grow with confidence and full of love. 🙂
Very great idea! We always need to teach child to develop their better attitude.
Very important lesson that every parent should teach their kids.
This is a great post. I am working on this with my stepdaughter. For some reason she has it stuck in her head all these negative thoughts.
Solid ideas to teach kids about charity at a young age, here.
I think it’s pretty important to expose our children to these ideas while they’re learning and taking in what adults around them do.
Of course, it’s especially important to consider charitable giving in the light of what’s happening with our educational system right now during the pandemic!