The You Kind of Kind: Build skills for confidence, self-esteem & kindness to self

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Featured Book:

The You Kind of Kind by Nina West & Illustrated by Hayden Evans is a fantastic book about embracing your authentic and unique self.

Right from the beginning of the story there is an unapologetic approach to supporting how fantastic it is to BE YOU! and how there is only one you.

How to Use This Book for Social Emotional Skill Building

Here are a couple of ideas to get you started with how you can use this book to build some skills for social emotional well-being: confidence, self-esteem, self-worth, kindness to self, kindness to others, empathy, pride, acceptance…

Helpful hint: never tackle more than one or two skill building moments per reading or your child will start to think reading time is lecture time and it will take all the magic out of the moment!

Skill Building Moment 

(first few pages of the book) 

There’s an opportunity here to talk to your child about how fantastic and unique they are.

Yes, they might shy away from the statement in this context, or seem to push back on the compliment, that’s okay, with the help of the book you are making a very powerful impact on their mindset.

The main character, Nina, is excited to take the reader on an adventure to find kindness while also showing how important it is to look within and embrace your unique self (kindness to self).

Skill Building Moment

 (pages where she is picking her outfit & packing her bag) 

As Nina gets ready for her day she talks about picking an outfit that makes her feel fabulous and packing a backpack with the essentials she needs for her day. This would be great way to explore your child’s unique personality picks and the kinds of things they need to take with them to support them on their daily adventures.

If you are a family who struggles with children picking clothes or have noticed that choices lead to a lot of conflict and overwhelm. No problem! This is a great opportunity to use this book to set up a system where your child could pick something on the weekend or when they get home from daycare/school and you pick during the week. There are ways to strike balances with the power struggles of daily life so that you support your unique child’s personality while also providing functionality to your life.

Skill Building Moment 

(page where she is greeting community members)

Pretty soon she is ready to head out into the world and shares how greeting people along the way with kindness doesn’t have to look like something big or expensive, it can be as simple as a smile or a hello, but this small gesture can have a big impact. 

"Don't forget to smile and make it your own kind of Salutation Exclamation."

Introverts, Shyness and Kids Who Refuse to Engage in Greetings:

If you have a child who doesn’t love saying hello to relatives or friends, it can be helpful to reframe their thinking around greetings being a form of kindness. How sharing kindness brings joy to both you and the receiver. Often we attempt to force children through this process and it ends with resistance and turns into actions that are later resented. One cannot force kindness, but with this as a guide for co-existence it can be a helpful reframe. Ultimately children (and people) don't always like to be told they have to do something, but if they understand a bit more about the why, they will push their comfort zone a little to build new skills.

Skill Building Moment

(page with giant hearts)

"Be the kind of kind that lights a shine!"

At this point in the story Nina has now explored different forms of kindness. Friends sharing jokes, community members planting and cleaning up a park, but above all how believing in yourself is the most important kind of kind. This and taking the time to recognize the kindness inside others.

How can you spread kindness with your friends, family, siblings, team mates? Could you compliment a friend on their efforts on something? Could you congratulate a sibling on their hard efforts?

How can you be kind to yourself? Brainstorm different ways you and your child can explore building self-confidence together!

This is Just the Start

There are tons of fantastic ways to use this book to build skills. These are just a few ideas to get you started. If you are fan of using children’s books to build important life skills with you child, you might enjoy the Raising Resilient Children Resource Centre where I highlight different books and how you can read them with your child.

Where Can You Get a Copy?

*This book was purchased by me. All thoughts, ideas and reviews are my own.

If you would like to purchase a copy of this book, I may receive a small commission when you use the affiliate link below: