Empowering Your Child Through Positive Affirmations

Every parent has an image they want their child to be: successful, capable, kind, compassionate, and more. However, building the foundations that foster such an individual can be a challenge. But the good news is that you have a significant role to play in your child’s development, and if you do it right, they will grow up to carry plenty of positive attributes. 

The secret to achieving that goal: positive parenting. Positive parenting refers to an approach that is sensitive to a child’s individual needs and addresses the typical challenges they may encounter with empathy and respect. When struggling to navigate the ups and downs of parenthood, applying and practising such an approach may seem like a tall order – which is why we’ve highlighted one of the effective strategies of positive parenting: positive affirmations.

Understanding Positive Affirmation and How it Works

To put it simply, positive affirmations are positive phrases and statements that are repeated to challenge negative and unhelpful thoughts. For children who are not equipped with the skills to regulate their emotions, positive affirmations are imperative to create a safe learning environment and build their self-esteem as well as self-belief. 

Everybody develops a belief system about ourselves and the world around us from our environment. This means a child’s caregiver, their friends, interactions with strangers, entertainment they consume on a daily – these things can either be nurturing or damaging. It is thus imperative that one learns to take control of our beliefs. Fortunately, the younger somebody learns, the easier it is.

By sprinkling positive affirmations every single day, your child will learn to believe in themselves – because you and those around them believe in them! By doing so, your child will be able to practise differentiation of self, a state where they are able to maintain their sense of self, identity, thoughts and emotions when emotionally or physically close with others. This means they are able to respond to situations, particularly emotions, with control and intent, as well as facilitate your child’s development of key self-regulation skills.

Introducing Positive Affirmations to Your Child

There are different ways you can use positive affirmations in your parenting, every single day. Here are a few:

1. Compliments

Be generous with your compliments! By using praise, you are showing your child that you value them for being who they are. In fact, you can encourage them to repeat after you. Phrases like “I am important” and “I am loved” are empowering and powerful. You may also want to prompt them to find different aspects of themselves that they like. “I am kind to animals”, “I help others when they need help”, or even “I am good at drawing” are great examples.

2. Acknowledge and Validate

Everybody wants to be seen, and so does your little one! With every emotion expressed and thought conveyed, validate them! Do so by listening quietly as they express themselves and use phrases like “I understand you feel/think that way”. Take it a step further by being curious and encouraging them to further explain.

3. Support While Learning

Teach your child that failures are okay! Reassure them that it’s perfectly fine to stumble and not get everything right the first time. Encourage them to try again by letting them know that they can do it. You may also further bolster their confidence by having them say phrases like “I am good at drawing, so I will get better at colouring.”

Empowering Your Child Starts Today

Make today the day that you try positive daily affirmations with your child and watch them bloom and shine with confidence as the unique individuals that they are.

To support you in your efforts to help your child be the best they can be, MindSpace offers enrichment programmes that seek to empower students through holistic means, academic or otherwise. Our team of highly qualified and experienced Specialist Subject Coachers is committed to creating a safe learning environment that fosters their sense of self while simultaneously equipping them with the skills, strengths, and resilience that will prepare them to face future challenges.

Book an appointment with us to learn more.