As parents, we are often quick to share negative feelings with our kids but, for some reason, have more difficulty sharing positive feelings with them. A healthy pride can enable our children to care about their work, feel confident to make new friends and try new things and make safe and healthy life choices. On the other hand, we worry that if we share too much praise our children might become insufferably arrogant. We need to realize that feeling proud is not the same as being arrogant.

Our job is to help our children learn to be proud of themselves and the unique individuals that they are. When they have confidence in themselves they will also be able to appreciate the abilities of their peers, teachers and loved ones.

Your child doesn’t always know when you are feeling proud of them, so it is really important that they hear from you frequently and sincerely that you’re happy they are in your family. The positive things we tell our children mean a lot! Our children actually store them up and repeat those encouraging words to themselves, which makes them feel loved and wanted. If we show our children that we believe in them, they will in turn learn to believe in themselves. AND they will learn from your example to encourage feelings of pride in others around them!

NOTICE and LABEL “Proud” Throughout the Week

• Watch for times when your child looks like they are feeling proud.  Talk about how they feel and why? What does their face look like? What does their body feel like?

• Notice (or recall) times when you yourself feel proud and “talk aloud” about it with your child. Talk about what has made you feel proud.  Point out how your face looks and how your body looks and feels when you are feeling proud

• Don’t forget to notice and talk about characters on TV and in books who are feeling proud.  Ask your children how they know the character is proud and why they think he/she might be feeling proud. 

Activities

Pot o’ Gold

• Find a small pot or jar and decorate it if you wish.

• Find something small that can be the “gold” to add to your “pot” such as pennies, gummies, fish crackers, etc.

• During the week, each time you notice or talk about feeling “proud” be sure to add a piece of “gold” to the pot.

• At the end of the week, you can count/eat the “gold” as you reflect on the “proud” feelings that you noticed all week long.

Do a Proud Dance

• Listen to a feelings/proud song such as one or both of the following...

  • Feelings Song

  • Proud Song

• As you listen to the Feelings Song, make up your own feeling faces and actions to match the feelings. Be sure to pay special attention to the proud feeling faces!

• Take time to point out and talk about how your face and body look when you are feeling proud. Practice some proud movements.  Listen to the Proud Song as you dance, using some of the proud movements you practiced!

Musical Chairs/Proud Game

• This is a variation on the musical chairs game that becomes a social-emotional learning game.

• Simply draw or have your child draw a proud looking face.

• Each round tape the face to the bottom of one of the chairs. For the effect of surprise try to move the face under a different chair for each round. 

• Then, when the music turns off and students find their chairs.

• Have your children check under their chair to see who is sitting on the “proud” seat.  That child gets to show a proud face, do a proud walk or tell about a time when he/she felt proud.

• Once you have played this game using the “proud” feeling...try using some of the other feelings that we have talked about in this series with your children. ((calm, angry, happy, worried, excited, lonely, surprised, silly and sad)

Play Simon Says “Feelings” Game

• Play Simon says with the children substituting feeling phrases for the usual directions. For example, say: “Simon says, look “proud.”  In between commands you can ask them questions about those feelings, such as “What makes you feel proud?”  “How does your body look and feel when you are proud?  Does it always feel good to feel proud?”

• Be sure to review the feelings already talked about in this Feelings Treasure Hunt Series. (calm, angry, happy, worried, excited, lonely, surprised, silly and sad)

Feelings Book

Talk with your child about times when they have felt proud.

Show each other what your proud face looks like.

Either take a picture of your child’s proud face and print it or have your child draw her proud face. (Use a mirror if your child is going to draw his/her face.)

Protect the picture by slipping it into a plastic baggie (quart size works well).

You can also make calm, angry, happy, worried, excited, lonely, surprised and sad face pages to add to your book. (These are the feelings previously talked about in this series.)

As you learn about new emotions don’t forget to add those pages to your book. You can tape the baggies together along the plastic seal to create the binding of your book using duct tape or packaging tape.

Read your feelings book often. Try to help your child remember times when they felt that feeling and share times when you felt the same way.

More Activities

Watch a Feelings Song Video and Make Feelings Faces Together...

Feelings Song by Patty Shukla

• As you watch the video sing the song and make the feelings faces together.

• Encourage your child to watch for the “proud” feelings face.

Play Proud Freeze Tag

• Choose one person to be “it.” 

• It chases the other children and tries to tag them.

• When a child is tagged they have to freeze in place.

• The only way that they can be unfrozen is to tell about a time when they felt proud or show a proud face/walk. 

Walk proudly

• When it is time to transition to a new activity (for example, time to go wash hands for lunch) encourage your child to walk proudly to the bathroom to wash their hands.

• You can do this activity all throughout the day and after you have practiced showing “proud” you and your child can try other emotions!

Act out Proud in Pretend Play Scenarios

• Pretend play is a great place to talk about emotions.

• Join in your child’s play and use emotions to talk about the stories they are creating! ("Look, your baby is learning to walk!  She must be feeling so proud!”)

Make an, I was Proud of Myself When...Book Together

• You will need paper, markers, crayons and/or pencils.

• Together with you child make a list of times when your child did something that made him/her feel proud.

• Then encourage your child to create an “I was proud of myself when…” page for each event.

• Depending on the age of your child you can write the words on each page and he/she can simply draw the pictures.  Or if you have a very young child (who is unable to draw proud pictures) you might consider printing photos of special times when your child might have felt proud and putting them together in a book format.  For example the first time your child walked, or another special milestone or event.

• When the pages are complete you can staple the pages of the book together or use a hole punch and metal ring to attach them into a book.  You might also try inserting drawings or photos into appropriately sized plastic zip lock baggies and then taping the baggies together to make a book that is protected.

• Don’t forget to make a book for yourself to share with your child!

Play Feelings Follow the Leader

• Pick one child to be the Leader.

• The Leader gets to pick a feeling.  Be sure at some point to include “proud” because it is the focus feeling for this week’s treasure hunt.

• The person who is the Leader gets to share their feeling word and tell about a time when they felt that way.

• Then the Leader can choose a way to walk and act out the feeling word.

• Everyone else follows the Leader and acts out feeling word behind them in a line.