Do you ever feel like you’re just not sure what to do to help your child become brave? It’s hard enough teaching them basic manners and how to share, but when it comes to instilling courage in them, it can be tough. Here are 101 different ways that you can start helping them build up their courage!
Being a parent is loaded with layers and layers of trying to do what is best for our kids. Every child is different. In what ways can we teach kids courage? What is the definition of courage?
Courage is defined within a wide range. I read an article about courage recently. The article inspired this post. Enjoy!
101 Ways to Teach Kids Courage
- Talk about what scares you and make a list of those fears
- Learn another culture’s traditions and celebrate with that culture
- Make a list of daring feats you want to do or have done whether physically, mentally, or morally
- Climb that tree you’ve been eyeing for months
- Write a poem about your fears
- Learn to swim
- Explore without a map
- Learn to ride a bike
- Pet a snake
- Wear a snake around your neck
- Be different
- Embrace your passion even if no one else is
- Watch Brave even though the bears are scary
- Sit with your anger instead of using your body to show anger
- Do something hard
- Solve a problem for yourself
- Help someone else solve a problem
- Take a deep breath and find your words when you’re angry
- Smile at a stranger
- Read a book about courage and those people who embody it
- Keep at an activity even though it is challenging for you
- Be truthful
- Practice
- Embrace and learn from failure
- Smile when you’re grumpy
- Take a physical risk
- Step out of your comfort zone socially
- Write a poem or a story
- Know when to walk away from a person or situation
- Ask a zookeeper a question to which you’ve always wanted to know the answer
- Go to sleep on your own
- If you wake up first in the morning, begin your day on your own by making breakfast
- Let your younger brother play with your favorite train
- Teach a classmate something new
- Send a thank you note to someone who has helped you
- Draw a picture
- Paint a picture
- Keep a journal
- Share your journal
- Learn to knit to sew
- Climb your/a mountain
- Visit a new place (e.g. a park, a town, a country…)
- Meet a war veteran. Learn his or her story.
- Volunteer
- Try something new together with your family
- Play and explore outdoors every day for 30 days straight
- Ask questions, lots of them
- Encourage question asking
- Play with the shy, quiet kid at school, or the one that has trouble making friends
- Sit with someone new at lunch
- Invite a new friend to your home
- Take the elevator to the tallest building in your area
- Find a purpose or passion like helping save whales or studying ways to help endangered birds
- Invent yoga poses, or simply do the ones you know
- Ask them to define courage
- Remain still and quiet for three minutes
- Practice silence
- Learn about an animal that showed great courage
- Learn real-life stories about historical figures such as Rosa Parks, Amelia Earhart, and Abigail Adams
- Tell real stories of people battling an illness today
- Look at examples of courage through images
- Act out what it means to be courageous
- Make a list of ways to show courage
- Make a collage of all the people, places, and things that represent courage
- Create a piece of artwork while listening to the I Have a Dream speech
- Simply listen to Taps and ask the child how the tune made him feel
- Send the child off to research someone who acted in a courageous way
- Encourage the child to try something new
- Encourage the child to introduce himself and make a new friend
- Visit an elderly care home to hear stories of generations passed
- Watch video clips of athletes doing daring feats
- Watch a video clip of a child making a speech
- Use figurines to discuss people of varying abilities – is this person courageous?
- Try a new hiking trail
- Eat food you’ve never had before
- Use a blindfold and take turns leading one another around the yard or your home
- Hold a door for someone
- Choose happiness over self-defeat or pity
- Try a new sport
- Bob your head underwater
- Swim underwater
- Practice gratitude
- Ask someone: “How are you today?” and genuinely listen to their answer
- Apologies (and mean it) in real-time
- Apologize after the fact of the matter
- Try out for a play
- Choose not to complain
- Invite over a friend you haven’t seen for a while
- Write a letter to a teacher or person that has meant a lot to you
- Tell someone what they mean to you
- Learn a new language
- See the “glass as half full.”
- Acknowledge your feelings and emotions
- Accept your feelings and emotions
- Be true to your beliefs and passions
- Dine alone
- Learn an instrument
- Watch a movie or read a book alone
- Help an animal in need
- Choose to be kind
- Compliment a chef (even if that is a mom or dad)
Related Read: 100 Phrases to Use to Show Appreciation for Your Child
I hope we inspired you today!
Marnie