Life is a journey not a destination. ~ Ralph Waldo emerson
We like to think that one day we just woke up and loved ourselves, or maybe that’s a more of a present tense thought, perhaps we think that one day we will come to love ourselves…
Yet, we try to tell our kids that they need to love themselves and that they are wonderful just as they are. Even when the world around them starts to tell them that they shouldn’t love themselves, that they aren’t good enough and when this world we live in treats them badly and makes them question their very fiber of who they are. We still try to tell them that they should love themselves. Sometimes when my kids doubt themselves I just want to yell, you know the secret- it’s just to “LOVE YOURSELF!!!”
Being a kid these days isn’t easy. I mean truly we expect a lot of them but worse than that, the comparison game starts earlier and earlier and the “I am not enough” feelings are starting as early as Elementary School! How do we teach kids to cope with these feelings when they might not even know how to write their letters or tie their shoes yet? They don’t have the mental maturity to overcome so many of these thoughts and feelings so let’s talk about it…
How do we overcome these feelings of I am not enough, and learn to love ourselves all along this journey of life? How do we teach our kids to do it daily?
It can take a while, but for our kids it’s easier for them to overcome the noise of the world yelling they aren’t enough if we equip them and help them know and remember that they are enough. DAILY.
We have to remember to tell them that we love them daily. We have to tell them that they are good enough and smart enough and wonderful enough. EVERY. SINGLE, DAY.
It’s why we focus on affirmations with our Raising STRONG Boot Camps, by focusing on the different things we love about ourselves and speaking them to ourselves daily!
We have to let them know that it’s certainly ok to love yourself and to give yourself grace when you aren’t perfect. But then we also need to teach them to pass that grace and love along to others.
Let’s tell our kids they are amazing and wonderful and loved and lovely, but NOT because others aren’t. Teach your kids to offer kindness to others all along the way and they will then learn to share it with themselves more frequently as well! The best part about teaching your kids to love themselves? They will also share that love with you! They will give you more grace and more freedom to love yourself too! They can teach us a thing or two for sure!
Let’s teach our kids the secret to self love, it’s to learn to lift ourselves up daily, it’s to know that we aren’t perfect but working on being our best selves and that they can do that just as we do.
THE SECRET:
Love yourself along this journey, it’s a challenge sometimes but understanding and embracing your unique and wonderful self will help you come to love yourself and help you to overcome anything that life throws at you.
So repeat after me and be sure to share this with your kids!
I am awesome.
I love myself.
I can do anything I put my mind to.
I am amazing and one of a kind.
I can overcome any challenges put in my way.
I am enough.
I. AM. LOVED.
