One of the biggest things I said I was going to do as a parent was nurture my daughter’s confidence. Not saying that my parents fell short in this area. They couldn’t help me with something they knew nothing about. That is why I took the time to research kid-friendly confidence building activities to do with my daughter.
The Confidence Issue
My confidence issues started early in life. There were a great deal of events that happened that confused, disappointed, and hurt me deeply. These small infractions became big as it chipped away at my self-worth and confidence in who I was.
Check out: What does confidence mean to you?
I remember they sung the chant “sticks and stones may break my bones, but your words will never hurt me.” I didn’t understand that saying but it was actually a proverb that I will have to address later in life. Things that were said to me and about me received more power than they should have. So for the last 20 years I have been trying to heal and rebuild from things other kids have said to me.
I don’t want my daughter to ever to go through this. Taking over two decades to heal from things that happened in her childhood. That is why I am very hard on myself about what I am saying to her, because I can be the culprit as well. Our role as a parent is to steward, nurture, and build-up our children to be believers and productive citizens.
Check out: 5 Tips For Improving Confidence
Why confidence building activities are so important for children?
God commands us to:
Train up a child in the way they should go, and when his is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6
This is not only true for discipline and acting right. But it is also applicable to the good things we want to instill in our children. Confidence is good for children because in majority of the childhood experience, the child is learning and developing their identity and understanding of their world.
Using this early development period to teach our children their God-given identity and foundation to their emotional, spiritual, and mental groundedness. As they get older, when events happen, they won’t have to recover in such a way that a lot of us have had to due to a lack of foundation.
Below I share 5 simple kid-friendly confidence building activities to implement with your child(ren) so that they will be build-up and walking in a confidence that is unshakeable through out they’re discovery journey.
5 Kid-Friendly Confidence Building Activities
1. Read Books on Confidence and Identity
The cool thing about stories is that they are an essential part of the moral development of children. Stories allow your child to understand others experiences and perspectives and nurtures their development of empathy. There are plenty of opportunities for the child to create different endings, plots, and problem-solve when reading a book. This is the activity I use the most.
2. Create Cool Songs and Chants
We have has fun with this activity. My daughter is into singing and the arts, so any chance we can dance and sing, she loves it. Opportunities to put truth to movement can fostor long term memory due to the actions tied to the emotions that arise. Therefore, a dance party is always in the works combined with affirmations.
3. Complete Tasks That They Enjoy Together
This is the most connective activity you can do. When you engulf yourself in their world, they find that their needs and wants matter. It is the small things like quality time that makes a large difference in your child’s identity and sense of belonging.
4. Implement Age Appropriate Goal Setting
This one has been rocky for her as she just wants to play. However, there is something in her that wants her to tap into her independence as a growing 5 year old. Using easy to do, yet challenging tasks that allows your child to feel accomplished and that they have conquered the world.
5. Have A Conversation About Their Feelings/Emotions/Thoughts
This is an easy application activity that you can implement into your daily interactions with your children. It can be when strong emotions are involved or it can just be a opportunity to ask your child how their emotions have been for the day. Here are some questions to implement in your daily time together with your children:
- How are your feeling today?
- Did anything happen today that made you feel good or bad?
- How could you have responded different?
- If you have something like (fill in the blank), what would you say, do, or feel differently next time?
For more in-depth things you can do, I have gathered a few resources that i used during my research that helped me in creating confidence building activities:
- 25 Things You Can Do Right Now To Build a Child’s Confidence
- 7 Simple Activities To Build Self-Esteem In Children
- 12 Ways to Raise a Competent, Confident Child with Grit
All in all,
Sometimes as parents we see all the things we can do to help our children become more confident. But we are still struggling ourselves.
Check out: Confidence coaching: why every single mom should consider it?
Our best tool for building confidence in our children is being an example. So if you are struggling with your own confidence, it may be a good idea to start working on it. You can only pour from a full cup.
So I would encourage you to reach out and book a breakthrough chat with me to explore your confidence needs.
Not ready for 1:1 support? Feel free to join the Confident Christian Single Mom Facebook Group to be apart of an awesome faith community of single moms striving for a better life with confidence and Christ.
Great list! I think it’s so important to cultivate confidence with our daughters. I love how you talked about books that focus on identity and confidence—I think one day I may create a book with my daughter! Thank you for sharing.
Thank you! Let me know when you do. That’s a great idea to create our own book as well.
What a great list! I just loved the board you showed on #4-Implement Age Appropriate Goal Setting. It really inspired me to do the same with my own daughter. And also, we do have some of the same diversity books you showed in one of your pictures, good choice! Thank youso much for sharing this!