Teach Your Kids the Impact of Their Words with This Tip

EDITOR’S NOTE: City Dads Group is working with longtime partner Dove Men+Care to create “how to” videos for the grooming products company’s “Dads Care” campaign. We will be featuring the videos and scripts our members appear in. This one features Devon Bandison of our NYC Dads Group, with a little help from his son, talking about teaching children about the impact of their words.

My son and I often discuss the impact, good and bad, our words can have on others. Today, we want to focus on using our words to encourage yourself and others.

Each night, we have a ritual. We stand in front of the mirror and we do what we call affirmations. Affirmations are words that empower you, that encourage you. Oftentimes, we hear some negative things, maybe on TV or in the news or in life, and it can bring us down. We use words of affirmation because our words have powerful impact on how positive we can be.

I’ve taught my son that the two most powerful words we know in the human language are: I am. So when we look in the mirror each night to say our affirmations, we use powerful “I am” statements. Some of the ones my son likes to use are:

• I am smart.
• I am someone who can do anything.
• I am a good basketball player.

We add to these affirmations every night because what we found is that when you speak words that are powerful and positive words about yourself, they tend to have a powerful and positive impact on yourself. They make you feel good about yourself. If they have this type of effect on yourself, imagine what kind of impact powerful and positive remarks can have in others around you. They can really make a difference in everyday life.

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash