As the leaders of our families, we are required to make countless decisions every day to ensure our kids are kept safe, secure, and loved. While children need and appreciate our guidance and structure on so many matters that they are not yet equipped to manage, it can sometimes (inadvertently) make them feel that their opinions don’t matter.

For kids to value (or even know) their opinions, cultivating self-trust is key. Giving children intentional time to consider and their opinions and thoughts is key to this process.

What you’ll need:

• Pen/pencil
• Paper

How to do it:

To ensure your child/ren know that you value their opinion, at the beginning of each week, call a family meeting and tell your children that you would love to hear their thoughts and opinions about whatever family decision would be most developmentally- and age-appropriate for them to weigh in on.

Activities, where you could solicit their opinions and advice, could include:

• Meal ideas for the week
• What movie to watch together as a family
• Allow them to choose their own outfits
• How to help around the house
• Choosing volunteer organizations that the family can support

What you’ll need:

• Just your body!

Did you know…different poses can actually change the chemistry in your body, in turn, changing how you feel? Helping your child to notice that how they hold their body can affect the way they feel can offer them another tool in their mental health toolbox when they’re feeling scared, anxious, or overwhelmed.

How to do it:

This is a fun and empowering activity! Have your child stand for 30 seconds like a pirate a couple of times a week. Have them place their hands on their hips, their legs slightly apart, and their shoulders back. Research tells us this stance is incredibly empowering; particularly for girls. Give it a try yourself!

Invite your child to play around with different poses, becoming mindful of how each one makes them feel inside.

One of the best ways to see and hear your child is simply getting to know their preferences, interests, and favorite things.

You can accomplish this in countless ways, but one of my favorite ways to know my kids better is to have ready-made questions sitting in a jar or glass on the dinner table that they can answer at the end of the day (if you want to include the entire family with this activity, parents can answer these questions, too!)

What you’ll need:

• Pen/pencil
• Notebook to record answers

One of the best ways to help children increase trust in themselves is to help them identify what matters most to them – specifically, their values.

How to do it:

You can help them figure out what’s important to them by carving out some time to ask them a variety of questions that will help them to home in on what’s important to them.

Some questions that you can ask your child to get their values wheeling turning are listed below.

• If you could fix or improve one problem in the world what would it be?
• What makes you angry?
• What do you find unfair?
• What brings you joy?
• What adult do you admire or look up to?

Here is a link to a list of sample values to help your child/ren get their creative juices flowing in defining their values.

Record their answers and be prepared to reference them in the next activity.

Many well-meaning adults often ask children, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” Instead of asking children what will matter to them in 20 years, let’s focus our energy on affirming and celebrating what matters to them now!

What you’ll need:

• Markers
• Glue or tape
• Poster board or paper
• Magazines (optional)
• Printed online images (optional)

How to do it:

Divide a large poster board or piece of paper into two columns. At the top of one column write: MY SUPERPOWERS. In the other column, write: PROBLEMS I’LL SOLVE.

Find a large space where you can spread out and make room for drawing, creating, and cutting (optional). Invite your child/ren to think about what their special superpowers are. Are they artistic? Are they a natural-born problem-solver? Do they love science? Are they a math wizard? Give them as much time as they need to come up with 3-5 superpowers and record them in the “My Superpowers” column.

Next, ask them how they might use their superpowers in the present to solve problems in the world. Then, ask them how they might use their superpowers in the future to solve problems they feel passionately about. Write down their answers in the “Problems I’ll Solve” column.

Leverage the internet and/or magazines to find images that visually represent their superpower and/or the problem they want to solve in the world. Glue or tape them on the poster board or paper.

Hang on to this keepsake and invite your child to reference it every once in a while to revisit their superpowers and how they uniquely have the power to make a positive impact in the world.

One of the best ways to build self-trust – in yourself and in your child – is to try new things that push you outside of your comfort zone. When you step into that “stretch zone” and come out on the other side of that having tested your resilience and ability to adapt, it helps you get to know yourself better, overcome fear, and affirm self-trust.

What you’ll need:

• Pen/pencil
• Calendar (digital or hard copy)
• Lots of courage!

How to do it:

So, what kinds of things can you and your child try to boost your confidence + trust in yourselves?

Here are some ideas that you can do together to get you started, but the sky’s the limit here!

• Try a new type of food or meal
• Explore a new type of music or instrument (many public libraries rent out various instruments for free)
• Go to a park you’ve never checked out
• Take a new class together
• Read a different genre of book
• Look up a new recipe and cook it together