Self-awareness is a skill that helps people navigate through the ups and downs that may arise in life. As your children grow, learn, and discover more about themselves, it is important that we instill self-awareness tactics in their every day lives so that they are able to use these skills in the long run as adults.

One way that we can teach self-awareness to children is by helping them to seek self validation first. If we witness our children succeeding at something great, we should offer room for them to self validate themselves before we offer any input on their achievements.

Instead of instantly telling them that they did a good job, we can ask them questions that encourage them to reflect back on how well they think they did so that we can give them an opportunity to validate their efforts first.

For example, instead of saying,”You did great on your homework!” We can change it and say, “I think you did good on your homework, but how do you think you did on it?”

Asking these types of questions will redirect the conversation back to your child to encourage them to become self aware of what it takes for them to complete a task successfully from their own perspective of success.

The objective of self-awareness is to help our children uncover their feelings and their needs as the priority so that they can make decisions in life that they can feel good about. The more we understand who we are and what we need the more we are able to create opportunities for ourselves that align with our values and views on life.

As parents we always want to see our children doing well. However we want to make sure that they are showing up in life in a way that feels good to them–not to please other people.

When it’s all said and done your children aren’t trying to be bad or not listen to you when they misbehave. In fact, they want to do well. But as parents we have to create the space and opportunity for them to feel comfortable enough to express what they need so that we can help them see the importance of being who they are and honoring their needs.