building blocks: who am I?
Filed Under Tips & Tricks | October 22, 2008
In her column this month, Sharon Selby, a local child counsellor and the creator of the Phonics Wizard, continues to explore the five elements that comprise the building blocks of self esteem. Last month it was security, and this month she focuses on selfhood.
“All that we are is a result of what we have thought.” ~ Bhudda
Children need to understand why they are unique and to know that others appreciate them for who they are and respect them for their special qualities. This knowledge must be learned and for positive self-esteem to develop, children need to recognize their own qualities, and realize how they are different from others, all the while liking themselves for their own uniqueness.
Here are some ideas for helping your child develop their individuality:
- Accept them for their unique qualities
- Develop an awareness of interests, roles and skills that may influence self-descriptions
- Encourage your child to broaden their view of themselves
- Provide your child with lots of earned, immediate, specific, individual and repeated encouragement
- Explore significant events in your child’s life and how they perceive them. If the experience is remembered as negative, help them to find a positive reflection or learning opportunity within the experience
And here are some great activities for developing individuality:
- “Who am I?” game – go around the dinner table several times and have each person make one true and positive statement about themselves such as “I am a reader” or “I am five years old”. Everyone can pitch in with these.
- “People recipe” – Have family members make up their recipe. Ask each other “What ingredients are you made of?” Perhaps a dash of smiles, a cup of hugs and a dash of mischief? Save your recipes to revisit later on.
- “Who am I?” place mat – use photographs and descriptive words to create a place mat for everyone in your family and get them professionally laminated somewhere like Staples. You can also colour photocopy them and hey presto, a great present.
- Photo albums – spend an evening flipping through photo albums and talking about significant events, focusing on positive experiences.
Sharon Selby, B.Ed., M.A., is a local child counsellor. She is the author of The Phonics Wizard Reading Series: a fun learn-to-read program for parents to teach their own children early literacy skills for ages 2-7.
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[...] elements that comprise the building blocks of self esteem. She started with security, moved on to selfhood and this month it’s all about [...]