Building Be Me Affirmations Into Your Child’s Day

Building positive affirmations into a child’s daily routine can be a great way to instil confidence, self-awareness, and emotional resilience. Here’s how you can incorporate our Be Me Values & Affirmations into your child’s day.

1. Morning Affirmations Ritual.

Start the day with a positive affirmation session. Breakfast is a great time to do this, creating a social experience, building conversation skills and making a positive connection with your child. Say the affirmations together aloud:

“I am kind.”

“I am curious.”

“I am creative.”

“I am brave.”

“I am resilient.”

“I am Me.”

You can repeat the affirmations and ask your child to say them with you.

You can add gestures or actions that reflect the meaning of each affirmation (eg, a hug for “I am kind” or pretending to explore for “I am curious”)

You can use basic Makaton signs which represent the values to bring a visual representation for babies and young children.

You can explain to your child what each value means, remembering to give real life examples from their experiences and/or your own to bring context and understanding.

Consistency is key! Repeating this routine on a daily basis will help children develop a deeper understanding of these positive values, and be able to develop these as skills and explain what they mean and how they use them.

2. Affirmation Jar:

Create an affirmation jar. Write each affirmation on a separate piece of paper and place them in a jar. Every morning, or even once a week, have your child pick one affirmation to focus on that day. Talk about what it means and how they can practice it throughout the day.

Don’t forget to reflect on the day, perhaps as part of a bedtime routine to talk about the value and how your child has used it throughout the day.

Talk about how that made them feel, or how it made others feel (eg, if your child did something really kind, ask them “how do you think that made your friend feel?”, and “how did that make you feel”?)

Use positive reinforcement and praise, remembering to focus on the value or skill rather than the outcome. (eg, rather than say “I really like that tower you built”, you can say “I really like how you used your creativity to build that tower”… “It makes me feel very proud, how did that make you feel?”

3. Incorporating Affirmations into Playtime:

While engaging in play, bring the affirmations to life:

During imaginative play, encourage your child to be kind to their toys or friends (“I am kind”).

When they ask questions, prompt them with curiosity-based responses (“What do you think will happen if we try this?”).

Encourage creative projects, like drawing or building, by praising their efforts (“What a creative idea!”).

When your child faces challenges, remind them that being brave and resilient means trying even when things are hard (“You’re being brave by trying something new!”).

Celebrate their uniqueness and individuality (“You are YOU, and that’s amazing!”).

4. Affirmation Reminders During the Day:

At lunch or snack time: Remind them to be kind to others or curious about what they’re eating.

During a challenge: If a child encounters difficulty, encourage them by saying, “You’re so resilient! You can try again.”

Before nap or bedtime: Wind down with a quiet moment, repeating the affirmations to help your child feel confident, safe, and loved.

5. Positive Affirmation Chart

Create a visual chart with pictures or icons for each affirmation. Each day, your child can choose to focus on a specific affirmation and check it off after practicing it. This gives them a sense of accomplishment and reinforces the positive behaviours.

6. Storytime with Affirmations

Choose or create stories that align with the affirmations. You can include themes about kindness, creativity, bravery, and resilience, or find stories with characters who embody those qualities. After reading, talk about how the story’s lessons can apply to their own life.

7. Affirmations Before Bed

At bedtime, help your child reflect on the day by discussing moments where they practiced kindness, creativity, or bravery. You can say something like, “You were so kind to your friend today,” or “I loved how curious you were about that new book.” End the day by having them repeat the affirmations before falling asleep.

By integrating these affirmations regularly into your child’s day, you help them build a positive self-image and encourage them to embrace these qualities in their daily lives. It’s all about reinforcing these messages in a natural, fun, and engaging way.

This is my personal favourite to reinforce our positive affirmations. The bedtime routine can sometimes feel monotonous for adults, but talking about these affirmations before bed with my own children creates a precious moment of connection between us. Children will always embrace conversation just before bed to prologue the inevitable sleep time, so use this special time to consolidate the values and affirmations over a nice snuggle together. One day at a time you will be building their positive view of themselves and celebrating the moments in their life that really matter!