Self belief, like self worth, means that you value yourself and expect to be treated with respect.

People with a sense of self-belief try not to compare themselves to others. Having self worth comes from setting goals, working to attain the goals and achieving success. This makes us feel good about ourselves.

Self-Belief comes within the “Meaning” arm of our wellbeing model because people with self-worth are inspired by and use the character strengths of positive role models, they do things that make a positive difference and use their strengths in all that they do.

The positive side effects of high self-esteem, include:

• Taking responsibility for our actions
• Forming positive relationships
• Feeling confident and respected
• Feeling proud of our achievements
• Understanding mistakes is part of learning
• Being resilient and independent
• Being confident of our decisions in the face of peer pressure
• Having a positive self-image

One of my “heroes” is Dr Miriam Rose. Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann AM is an Aboriginal activist, educator and artist of the Ngan’gityemerri language group and she happened to be awarded Senior Australian of the year. This is part of her story which was shown on the 7.30 report.

In this clip Miriam Rose shares Dadirri, which is about deep listening, silence and awareness; similar to mindfulness. Miriam Rose believes that Aboriginal people have been learning from non-Aboriginal people for years and now it’s time for the tables to turn.

Miriam Rose believes that dadirri and mindfulness is helpful in enabling us to be confident in facing and world and instilling a sense of who we are.

To understand yourself better and increase your self worth and boost how you feel about yourself you can use these sentence stems (or prompts) :

• I was really happy when . . .
• A goal that I have achieved recently is…
• Something that my friends like about me is . . .
• I’m proud of . . .
• My family was happy when I . . .
• In school, I’m good at . . .
• Something that makes me unique is . . .
• Others tell me my character strength is…

You can also use positive self-talk to boost your self worth. To do this, you need to catch yourself saying negative things about yourself in your head and chage the thinking to being more positive (eg. I’m not as good as the rest of my team (at, say, football) you could say; I may not be as good, but I play a valuable role and my team mates think I’m funny/kind/nice)

You can also use positive self-talk to boost your self worth. To do this, you need to catch yourself saying negative things about yourself in your head and change the thinking to being more positive eg. Instead of thinking; I’m not as good as the rest of my team (at, say, football) you could say; I may not be as good, but I play a valuable role and my team mates think I’m funny/kind/nice)

Perfectly Norman by Tom Percival

What is the main message in this story?

So Few of Me by Peter H. Reynolds

My favourite line in this story is: What if I did less but did my best?

Willy the Champ by Anthony Brown

From Cosmic Kids Yoga: Jamie writes; “Here are 3 meditations for kids that are specially designed to boost confidence. They will motivate a positive can-do attitude and give kids (and grownups too) a sense of self-belief! Go get ’em tiger!” 🐯

Do you know what positive affirmations are?

They are statements that can be used for positive thinking and self- empowerment and can help us to achieve success. This week, have a go at writing down three positive affirmations each day and if you get stuck, google positive affirmations!

People who are prudent think carefully and make sensible and smart choices. Prudent people plan carefully and think before they act or speak.

Prudence sits within the “Meaning” arm of the BHPS starfish and there are quite a few goals that  people who are keen to be more prudent can aspire to. These include:

• Doing things that make a positive difference,
• using the character strengths of positive role models and
• helping others.

Being prudent can also mean making sensible decisions about where you can seek help if needed and knowing who you can help.

Motto: Think before you act.

“Make smart choices,” is a rule that can be easily applied to primary school students. There are many ways to see how it works. Think about the smart and foolish choices made by characters in a story, famous historical individuals and/or students in the playground.  Prudent decisions are wise decisions and making thoughtless choices without thinking before acting are the opposite.

Some examples of books wherein the characters display prudence (or not!) include:

“The Ant and the Grasshopper” is a fable wherein the organised ant plans for the Winter while the arrogant and lazy grasshopper makes fun of the ant. The grasshopper regrets his not so prudent decision making later!

“Can I Join Your Club” shows the main character being rejected by the other animals and making the decision to make his own club where everyone belongs.

Finally, “How to Heal a Broken Wing,” by Bob Graham shows a little boy in a sea of adults making the prudent and kind decision to help a bird lying injured on the pavement.

While you are at home, ask your parents to help you to trace your two hands. On each finger of one hand, write the names of 5 people who can help you should you need it and 5 people who you can help.

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

There is a saying that laughter is the best medicine and studies have shown that sharing a laugh can reenergise the body, alleviate stress, help with positive thinking, sleep, help people to feel less worried and make everyone feel brighter.

Humour comes within the Positive Emotions arm of our PosEd model and is a great tool to use to improve how you are feeling.

You could try…..

• Two words – tickle fight!
• Sing a nursery rhyme, and mess up the words or change the story to include funny words.
• Play ‘Red light/Green light’, but substitute red light for a funny word.
• See who can make the best funny face.
• Tell jokes.
• Pretend you are sleeping (cue exaggerated snores) then wake up startled and give people a fright.
• Insist that under no circumstances can you laugh or smile (reverse psychology can work a treat!)

The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors read and written by Drew Daywalt

Walter the Farting Dog

Share something that has made you laugh! It could be a book or something else that you have read, something you have watched on TV or something that someone else has done 🙂

This week our wellbeing focus is Accomplishment, but we are going to deviate a little and think about people who inspire us, people who are our heroes. Having heroes enhances our motivation, gives us hope and morality. Heroes also increase our self worth and sense of personal power.

Heroes elevate us on an emotional scale, they build connections between people and encourage us to transform oursleves for the better.

Heroes can be those who you might run across in your daily life. These can include family members, teachers or someone who helps others in your neighborhood, such as a footy coach or someone from Barwon Coast who looks after the local environment. I admire Olympians immensely because of the challenges that they have faced during their journeys. Heroes can be people you may never meet such as historical figures or human rights campaigners. A hero can be defined as someone who fights to make a positive difference in someone’s life and who is respected and adminred by many.

My hero is…kids talk about their heroes!

Kid President on heroes

One of my heroes is Ash Barty who recently won Wimbledon. I admire Ash Barty, not just for her tennis prowess, but because, as a proud indigenous Asutralian, she names her inspiration, or hero, as Evonne Goolagong Cawley Evonne Goolagong, also a proud indigenous Australian woman, won Wimbledon 50 years ago and Ash Barty wanted to emulate her heroe’s win.

You may have read this book about Evonne Goolagong – her career has many parallels with Ash Barty’s career.

Someone else who is a hero of mine is Adam Goodes who played football for the Sydney Swans and won two Brownlow medals. Adam Goodes is a hero of mine, not just for his incredible skill and dedication as a football player, but because he spoke out against racism. In my mind, it is due to Adam Goodes that racism is not tolerated in Asutralian rules football and this has set a precedent for a cultural change in attitude.

Titled “Unsung Hero”, the man in this advertisement is the epitome of a hero who just goes about their day, helping others, with no expectationsor need for recognition.

Who is your hero?

Write a graititude card to your hero, thanking them and letting them know why you admire them. You may deliver it to your hero if you choose.

Meaning is an important part of our school’s PERMA wellbeing (Starfish) model. Within this area sits “Voice and Agency” which are integral elements of the vision of our school.

When people use their voice and agency, they can make a difference and shape the world around them by doing things such as:

Looking after and respecting the environment

Making decisions, asking questions and reflecting on learning

Doing things that make a positive difference and

Confidently voicing ideas

In this inspiring 6 minute talk, 10 year old Maddie Cranston shares her experiences and accomplishments to inspire kids to have a voice and speak out about what they believe in. Maddie looks to inspire otherd to believe in themselves and realize that they have the power to make change happen. Maddie’s message is focused on the importance of children believing in themselves and using their voice and ingenuity to help bring about positive change in the world.

This is a book about a girl called Molly Lou Melon who uses her voice to be true to herself and stand up for what she believes to be right.

Marcenia’s actions and courage ensured that her voice was heard. Her determination, drive and refusal to give up led her to achieve her dream.