Let’s face it, some kids are just naturally more confident and out-going. Whether through genetic disposition or the early mirroring of the sunny outlook of a confident adult relative, they find their feet and get along with others easily.
Others can be confident in specific situations and around certain people but may shut down or feel uncertain in different circumstances or with strangers or large groups.
And then there are children who are shy, diffident, or sensitive – kids who may not have the verbal and non-verbal communications skills down pat; kids who find the world and its challenges scary or simply a tad overwhelming.
3 EASY-TO-APPLY ‘CONFIDENCE TOOLS’ YOUR KIDS CAN USE TO BOOST THEIR CONFIDENCE AND WELL-BEING, STARTING TODAY!
Confidence can fluctuate, waxing and waning like a candle flame. Sometimes, like willpower the further into the day you get, it just runs out. Often inexplicably. Then, even an otherwise confident child can find themselves in need of an emotional pick-me-up. That’s where some of the well-being hacks and tips we offer in our children’s magazine, Brilliant Brainz, really come into their own. Here are 3 that have been cherry-picked for you to try out with your children…
THE SUPERHERO POWER POSE
“Stand up straight! Put your shoulders back! Puff out your chest and jut your jaw! Keep your pecker up!” Remember all those admonishments we used to receive as children from well-meaning grandparents and great aunts? Turns out they had an instinctive understanding that the way you use your physiology affects the way you feel.
In other words, the postures you adopt, the gestures and way you move your body, the expression you put on your face, the way you breathe – all of these are intrinsically linked to feelings. Depressed people physically sag, and sort of cave in on themselves. Shy people hunch, fidget and squirm. Confident people adopt more expansive posturing – they take up more space.
Check out this simple exercise, since codified and popularised by Professor Amy Cuddy, that will help your child feel instantly more confident, whenever they need that boost:
THE MAGIC-BUTTON TECHNIQUE
Everyone has experiences of feeling their absolute best. What if you could somehow capture that feeling and retrigger it whenever you want? Well, that’s the idea behind this Brilliant Brainz well-being technique. With this method, your child can just ‘push the confidence button’ and at the flick of a switch, feel their most confident self.
Famously, Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov trained dogs to associate the sound of a bell to the idea of being fed. He would ring a bell, feed the dogs, and then after a time, he’d only have to ring the bell for them to start salivating. He ‘anchored’ the excitement of being fed to a sound.
Your kids will learn to ‘anchor’ their own feelings of confidence and happiness to a physical action, like squeezing their own wrist or pressing a particular point on one of their fingers. They can then recapture this confident happy feeling whenever they need to.
Take a look at the link below and then share this confidence anchor technique with your child.
>>> The Magic-Button Technique
HOT CHOCOLATE BREATHING
If your child has been triggered so that they are already feeling anxious and nervous around people or is worrying about an event or something they must do, they may need to calm down and feel at ease again.
This Hot Chocolate Breathing hack is just the thing. It’s so simple and easy to apply that they can take a quick time out and use it to reset how they feel whenever and wherever they want.
Kids are naturally creative and imaginative, the power of pretending can be a very therapeutic aid, so they will get this one straight away. In fact, this is such a great self-care tool for changing your emotional state, you might want to give it a go yourself!
>>> Hot Chocolate Breathing to Boost Your Mood!
SHORT-CUTS FOR MORE CONFIDENT KIDS
Confidence comes through learning and building skills – be they practical, academic, or intrapersonal. But we can all do with some short-cuts, helpful tips, or ‘hacks’ to get into that confident state whenever we need to. Try out these 3 confidence hacks for children with your young whiz kids and see how they fare.
Brilliant Brainz is a dynamic monthly print magazine for children, ages 6-12, with a focus on arts and craft, health and wellbeing, science, music, and the environment. We are always featuring innovative games, exercises, and tips to help children cope and thrive with life’s challenges and opportunities.
You’ll find many more great confidence tips within our Back Issues catalogue and we’ll be packing many more exciting ‘self-help for kids’ guides into our upcoming monthly issues.
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