Self-Love in the Classroom
February is the month of love! Valentines celebrations in the classroom are great, but I like to spend February focusing on SELF-LOVE for kids. Showing kindness to others is extremely important, but equally as vital is learning to show love and kindness to oneself.
Often times in the classroom, I would overhear students practicing negative self-talk. “I NEVER get it right.” “Ugh, I HATE myself.” “I’m the WORST!” or the oh-so-terrible comparison statements – “Jayla is good at math. Why can’t I be good at math?” Do any of these statements sound familiar? If so, it’s time to practice self-love in the classroom.
Self-love is one of those skills that gets overlooked all too often. Sometimes we assume our students will inherently know to love themselves or that they live in a home where self-love is practiced and encouraged, but that’s not always the case. Self-love can and should be explicitly taught in the classroom the same way academic skills are taught!
Self-Love vs. Self-Esteem: What’s the Difference?
Self-love and self-esteem may be built from many of the same building blocks, but they are not exactly the same. Self-esteem is how we see ourselves. It’s an evaluation of how “good” we are. It can be different in different areas of our lives. For example, I can have high self-esteem in the workplace and low self-esteem in the gym. Self-love is a deep and overall acceptance and appreciation for who you are as a whole. It involves both action and feeling.
Self-love and self-esteem can certainly work together and often work to strengthen each other, but it’s important to note the differences, as students may seem confident and have high self-esteem, but not have an understanding of how to practice self-love.
Benefits for Kids
Psychology Today reports that there are 3 major science backed benefits of practice self love:
- Increased Resilience
- Increased Productivity
- Decreased Stress
Wouldn’t it be great to teach our students a practice that could give them stronger resiliency and productivity while reducing their stress?? Well, we can! Let’s talk about some self-love practices for kids.
Self-Love Practices in the Classroom
The first step to bringing self-love into the classroom is teaching what self-love is, why it’s important (share the research!), and how we can practice it. I start by prompting kids to think of someone they love and why. Then, I ask them to think about someone who loves them and why that person might love them or what specifically they might love most about them. Next, I ask them to reflect on the question: “Do you love yourself?” Sometimes kids think this is a silly question! It usually leads to conversations about what love means and what different types of love are and even if it’s good or bad to love yourself.
Next, we talk about 3 types of self-love:
- Mental – loving our brains
- Physical – loving our bodies
- Emotional – loving our feelings and our character
We discuss examples of each and talk about which type of love is the hardest or easiest for each of us. Now that kids have an understanding of what self-love is and a way to categorize it, we move into learning self-love practices.
Positive Self-Talk
We also call this “words of affirmation”. We can teach our kids that they should speak to themselves the way they would speak to a friend. Teach students that we should encourage ourselves and even compliment ourselves!
Try it: Present students with this simple sentence stem: “I am _________.” Allow them a chance to recite their positive affirmation out loud.
Promote a Growth Mindset
Growth mindset and self-love go together like two peas in a pod. When students practice a growth mindset, they learn to become accepting of mistakes and see themselves as capable of achieving hard things.
You can check out my recently released book “Growth Mindset Workbook for Kids” here! Please note that this is an affiliate link, so I do receive a small percentage from sales at no extra cost to you.
You can also check out this post for a list of Growth Mindset Resources for Kids.
Love Letters
One activity I love to do is to have students write love letters to themselves. Start by talking about what a love letter is. You can read sample love letters or love poems and watch them giggle and squirm! Their love letters are also so fun to read!
Teach Self-Care
We can teach our students to practice self-care now, and they will thank us when they become adults! Practicing self-care has so many benefits from increasing happiness, reducing stress, improving overall mental health and so much more.
I define self-care as knowing what your mind, body, or heart need in the moment and making the time to give it to yourself!
Self-care ideas for kids:
- Playing outside
- Taking a bubble bath
- Eating a healthy snack
- Drinking a glass of water
- Journaling
- Read a book
- Play with a pet
- Draw a picture
- Talk to a friend or family member
Host a Self-Love Challenge
I love a good monthly challenge! Challenge your students to practice self-love every day for the month of February (or any month!). You can use prompts like: “Give yourself a compliment.” “Think about something your brain does for you. Thank it!” “Hug yourself tight.”
Want a month of prompts ready to go for you? Check out my Classroom Self-Love Challenge!
Model the Love!
This one is important, teachers! If we want our students to practice self-love, we need to show them how it’s done! As teachers, we often put ourselves last. But as they say, you can’t pour from an empty cup.
- Talk to your students about how you practiced some self-care or made a healthy choice.
- Let them hear you recite a positive affirmation.
- Use language and actions that reflect a growth mindset.
They are always watching you!
Check out these resources!
You can definitely implement self-love practices in the classroom with just the tips and tricks above, but if you want the work done for you, take a look at these resources centered around teaching and practicing self-love for kids in the classroom!
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