I love my toddler’s spunk and confidence. She’s never been anything other than fearlessly confident her entire life up to this point. Okay, so sometimes that fearlessness is difficult for me as a parent, but it’s still inspiring. I know she won’t just magically stay positive and confident forever, though. I work to model a growth mindset and try to be conscious of my words and actions because I know she’s watching and learning. Modeling the use of affirmations, and introducing her to positive affirmations for kids, are ways I’m hoping to keep her confidence and optimism intact! These 35+ positive affirmations and a free printable poster will help your child stay positive and confident, too. Your own words and actions are a great way to teach a young child because they soak everything up like a sponge. Affirmations are one way you can encourage yourself, and your child, to have a positive outlook on life. You can read more about other techniques for teaching a child optimism here. Writing about positive affirmations for kids reminds me of the YouTube video called “Jessica’s ‘Daily Affirmation’”. If you haven’t watched it before, you have to check it out! It’s awesome. If we could all tackle life like this (at the time) four year old girl, we’d be in pretty good shape! Alright, after that bit of inspiration, let’s look at the affirmations and how to use them! This post includes affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission on purchases made through links at no additional cost to you.
How to use positive affirmations with your children
As an adult, I like repeating my list of daily affirmations aloud to myself each day. This isn’t usually the best way to use affirmations with children, though. Repeating a laundry list of affirmations can be boring for kids, which makes them ineffective. Instead, try picking one or two affirmations a day. Discuss the affirmation with your child - talk about what it means and how it makes them feel. For example, if you pick “I am grateful for what I have,” talk with your child about things you are grateful for and ask them what they are grateful for. Let them know they can keep these things in mind when they say the affirmation. You can print out the poster and go down the list talking about a new affirmation each day, or you can work with your child to select an affirmation that’s particularly needed that day/week. You can also use affirmation cards and/or books to help your child. There are decks of affirmation cards for children and illustrated books with positive affirmations for kids. I personally believe in using a combination of all three - a poster to hang at home, cards to pull and discuss, and a book to read together.
Positive affirmations for children
If you’re not familiar with my philosophy about affirmations, you can read more about how to write and use positive affirmations that work. In short, I don’t believe in repeating random ‘positive’ statements that don’t actually fit with reality. People sometimes recommend things like “I love school” as an affirmation for children. If your child doesn’t like going to school, repeating “I love school” probably isn’t going to to them much good! Instead, you/they need to find or write a positive statement that does jibe with reality. For example, maybe your child can truthfully say “I like school because I get to see my friends.” Here’s another example. I’ve seen people suggest affirmations like “I enjoy eating my vegetables.” If you’re tempted to make your child repeat this in an attempt to get them to eat their vegetables, that’s a pretty clear indication that they don’t actually like vegetables and the affirmation won’t work! A better affirmation might be “I am open to trying new foods” or even “I am learning to try new foods.” Feel free to modify these affirmations, as needed, to help them resonate with your child.
Let’s take a look at the 35+ affirmations:
I can do hard thingsI am lovedI have a positive attitudeMy body is strongI like myself the way I amAll problems have solutionsI am proud of myselfI deserve to be happyI only compare myself to myself in the pastI become more confident every time I challenge myselfIt’s okay to make mistakesMistakes help me learnIt’s okay to ask for helpI can be afraid and do it anywayTrying my best is enoughIt’s okay not to know the answerI am going at my own speedI chose to think positivelyI can control how I react when I’m upsetI know how to calm down when I’m angryI talk about my feelingsI treat myself and others with kindnessI am choosing to have a good dayI believe in myselfI enjoy learning new thingsI am enoughI stand up for myselfI can make a difference in the worldI accept myselfIt’s okay to failI can learn from failures and do better next timeI am creativeI enjoy helping my friends succeedI am grateful for what I haveI am proud of all the wonderful things I can doI am learning to get along with my siblingsI see challenges as opportunitiesI see the good in myself and others
Make sure to keep scrolling for the positive affirmations poster for children!
Free printable affirmations poster
For best results, print your poster on presentation paper. It’s a thicker paper with a special coating for vibrant, crisp images. It will be more beautiful and more durable than if you print on plain paper! You may also want to laminate your poster for greater durability. If you laminate it, you can use a wet erase marker to check off affirmations you’ve already discussed or star ones you’re working on. This poster is available free for personal use. This means use in your own classroom or home. You are not licensed to redistribute the digital or printed poster - please just refer your friends, family, and coworkers to this post so they can download their own copy! Okay, so when I say poster, I actually mean posters. They’re the same, but one has bold primary colors in the background and the other has light pastel colors. They’re both in the same PDF so just print whichever you prefer! If you have children, you may also enjoy this free printable woodland animal activity pack with low-prep activities for children of all ages! Please take a moment to Pin this post so you don’t lose track of it! More positive printables for children If you like these positive affirmations, you may also enjoy these growth mindset posters! 100+ positive adjectives to describe a child
