Backpack Full Of Positive Qualities Exercise To Improve A Child’s Self-esteem

Good self-esteem is the basis for the healthy development of a person’s personality, which is why it is important to support the development of a child’s self-esteem. To improve a child’s self-esteem, various methods can be utilized, one of which is the so-called Backpack full of positive qualities .

Backpack full of positive features exercise

The backpack full of positive qualities exercise involves reliving different experiences, feelings and thoughts. The purpose of the exercise is to appreciate and bring to light the strengths and weaknesses of the individual and to emphasize his or her positive qualities and traits. The child will carry this imaginary backpack of positive qualities on his back everywhere for the rest of his life.

The main goal of the exercise is to improve and support the child’s self-esteem. In addition, this self-reflection exercise helps the child to acquire the following abilities:

• Self-assessment
• Self-awareness
• Identifying your own characteristics
• Self-confidence
• Ability to accept oneself unconditionally

Exercise practice

1. Give the child a drawing of the backpack and a stack of round, stone-shaped pieces of paper.
2. Ask the child to write on each sheet one of his or her own positive or negative characteristics.
3. Then ask him to attach the tags to the picture of the backpack.
4. Explain to the child that he or she needs to remove a few stones from the backpack, otherwise the backpack is too heavy.
5. Ask the child to tick off the negative qualities he or she wants to get rid of.
6. Finally, ask the child to color the positive qualities to highlight them.

All of the above steps are important for a child to learn self-reflection, self-awareness, self-assessment, and self-acceptance. In other words, these steps are key factors in a child’s development and building a healthy self-esteem.

The origin of the child’s self-esteem

It is important to remember that the foundation of a child’s self-esteem arises from his or her social environment and especially his or her closest human relationships. The closest people to the child are his or her parents and siblings, the rest of the family, friends, and day care instructors and later teachers. All of these people play an important role in whether a child develops good or bad self-esteem.

The child perceives his or her own characteristics based on the following factors:

• Interpretations by others of his behavior and practices
• Information conveyed by others about his pros and cons
• The way other people, and especially loved ones, treat him

The backpack full of positive qualities exercise alone is not enough to develop a child’s good self-esteem, but it is one effective tool to help in this task. The most important and necessary thing is to take care of the child every single day, as this will make him feel valued and loved.