How To Promote Positive Self-Talk In Your Children
- Posted by spectrum
- On February 24, 2022
- 0
We all are aware of our self-talk. Self-talk is defined as our internal dialogue, messages and sentences we speak to ourselves. Self-talk can be both positive and negative. Whilst positive self-talk can be a powerful tool to motivate and encourage us and help drive our performance, negative self-talk reinforces our negative beliefs/ attitudes and can lead to feelings of hopelessness or worthlessness.
Guiding our kids to recognise their negative emotions and understanding situations that they may benefit from positive self-talk are important in helping them to deal with the negative emotions appropriately.
Here are some tips to promote positive self-talk in kids:
- Always validate your child’s feelings and reassure it’s “ok”/ “normal” to feel that way- even adults have those thoughts.
- Model positive self-talk. Show them how we as parents can adopt positive self-talk when facing a difficult situation. E.g. “I was a little nervous at start but I did it in the end.” “This is hard, but I’m trying my best and I’m doing great.” “I need to remember to breathe in and out whenever I feel worried.”
- Help your child identify situations or experiences that may trigger their negative thoughts and feelings and prepare positive statements/affirmations that can compensate the thought associated with it.
- Encourage your child to reflect on their positive qualities and or/ talents they have. Make a sheet listing out “Things I like about myself, Things I am good at”. Remind them about their positives and celebrate their “little” achievements regularly (weekly, fortnightly). Build their self-esteem and show them how wonderful they are.
- Encourage your child to start each day with positive affirmations and make a habit to practice gratitude every day. E.g. “I am thankful for the great weather today.” “I am thankful that I can go to school to learn and have fun!”
- Engage your child regularly in activities where you practice turning the negative thoughts into positive ones. E.g. “I am so dumb, I never get this right.” “ I’ll get better with more practice.”