20+ Positive and Inspiring Back-to-School Affirmations for Kids

The time to help prepare our kids for the transition back to the classroom is here. For many kids, this includes back-to-school jitters. Even if your child is returning to familiar faces, first-day nerves can still make an appearance. They can trigger separation anxiety or social anxiety. Fortunately, there are many ways to help kids deal with the transition, including the practice of daily affirmations. Numerous studies have found affirmations have a wide range of benefits, including stress-buffering effects.

Affirmations are particularly helpful in situations where our positive self-view is threatened. Here are some affirmations to practice with kids, tweens, and teens as the school year begins.

## Affirmations for Young Kids
Affirmations are a practice that even young children can understand and participate in, especially if they are kept simple, like the following.

– I am important.
– I am loved.
– I can do hard things.
– I am kind.
– I am a good friend.
– I can ask for help when I need it.
– I can learn how to do anything.
– I forgive and learn from my mistakes.
– I am safe and cared for.
– I am brave.

## Affirmations for Tweens and Teens
As kids move toward the tween and teen phases, their emotional lives become more complicated, and social pressures increase. This is a good time to introduce affirmations that address some of these pressures, like the following.

– Problems are challenges that help me grow.
– My past self is the only one I can compare myself to.
– My goal is progress, not perfection.
– I am making good choices.
– I am enough just the way I am.
– It is enough to do my best.
– The only person I can control is myself.
– To thine own self be true.
– I am proud of myself.I am beautiful, inside and out.
There are enormous pressures on all kids to look a certain way, keep up with trends, and place value on their physical appearances. They can use this affirmation to remind them that their beauty goes beyond physical attributes.

I have a bright future ahead of me.
Help them remember what school is all about—setting them up for a successful and prosperous future.

While a serious practice, affirmations can be fun, too! Encourage your kids to create their own affirmations. Make up some of your own. Say them together over breakfast, in the car, or post them on the mirror. This is a journey you can take with your kids and one that benefits everyone.