Books help kids understand the power of positive words

Positive thinking can have a huge impact on the little one's well-being and self-esteem. Inspired by her one-year-old son, Amrita Aswani, a long-term practitioner of positive affirmations and Founder of Summer stories, released her first book called 'A to Z Affirmation and Wellness book for kids'.

The affirmation book, which is a hardback of 28 pages, features positive words with all the 26 alphabets A-Z, their meanings and an engaging activity for children, where they get to put in their own affirmations down as per their understanding of these words. All the 26 words, along with a simplified child-friendly definition for each word, an example to go with it and relevant pictorial illustration makes the book an engaging and an easy learning tool.

Amrita collaborated with child psychologist Shrradha Sidhwani to work on the A-to-Z affirmation words along with their meanings. With the help of her affirmations book, this mom and businesswoman are laying the foundation for self-love, self-confidence and self-esteem amongst the kids. The book is targeted at children aged 5-12 but slightly younger children can also use it.

Talking about the book, Amrita said, "I have published a book that helps children to understand the power of words, positive words and affirmation. It helps children to unlock that power within them and be inspired by the most powerful voice in the world – their own! What I want through the book is for every kid to believe in themselves, their abilities and their talent without fears like – I am not good enough, 'What if I fail? How a child's mind is fed is what he or she shapes up to be. I feel if a person is trained to think positively, using affirmations early on in life; it will genuinely take them a long way".

"Some of the words in the book are Focused, Grateful, Confident, Mindful, Brave, Honest, Joyful and Kind. These words are everything you want your child to be. The book acts as a great conversation starter with your child. Each page has a small box posing different questions like - When do you feel brave? When do you feel joyful? What's your X- factor? You can make them aware of their own abilities through this book. The child can share their multiple experiences with their parents where they felt brave and write down one or two instances. The Affirmation and Wellness book is coupled with affirmation coloring bookmarks which is a fun element added to make the experience more joyful,'' she added.

Excerpts from an interview

Tell us more about the book

This book is more of a personal journal for every kid. Journaling is a great way to know how you are feeling and what you are thinking. I am sure there are many parents out there who want to teach their kids how to think positively and believe in their capabilities.

This book is more of a cross between having to do a fun activity at home and also learning positive self-talk. Mothers and Fathers, of course, play an important role in teaching them why positive thinking and usage of positive words are crucial in life.

This book makes for a great morning routine with the kids. I believe how we begin our mornings sets the tone for the entire day. We are only just beginning to discover the amazing outcomes of cultivating positive helpful thinking patterns. Positive encouraging self-talk leads to a more positive day which leads to a more positive year which leads to a more positive life!

Words have an incredible ability to build people up—especially kiddos. Teach your child some of these feel-good phrases to boost your self-esteem. The words directed to the kids are so important. A child will think, 'my parents think I'm kind, caring, smart, funny and lovable, so I must be!' As our children learn behaviours and wire their brains, affirmations are very effective in nurturing wellbeing in childhood.

Tell us about summer stories

We launched Summer Stories in Oct 2020. In March 2020, when the pandemic hit India and we went into a complete lockdown, I had to leave my job. I was working as a creative producer with a start-up, producing short films. For someone who has been working their whole adult life, it was difficult to accustom myself to be home without a job.

As I was pregnant, it was a natural course of things that led me to research a lot of children's products. I always wanted to be this cool mom teaching concepts to my baby in a fun interactive way. And then it flashed to me- flashcards! I felt there was a dearth of flashcards that were beautifully and creatively designed to appeal both to the moms and the babies.

As I was expecting, the first product, we started working on was high contrast flashcards which are meant for newborn babies. New-born babies have blurred vision and high contrast cards help them focus and concentrate. We came up with 2 sets for newborns. One is themed as forest friends with all animal characters and the other one is - Letter to my child which is all the objects and things you want to show your newborn baby. Both these sets come along with stories that you narrate to your kids while showing the cards. It's a really fun interactive session with your baby and I truly enjoyed it most when my baby was born. Most moms who have bought the high contrast cards have absolutely enjoyed using them with their babies.

We have flashcards which are very different from what's available in the market. One of our products - 21 Acts of Kindness has 21 easy, fun tasks for kids to do. To mention a few - Feed a stray animal, Write a thank you note, list five things you are grateful for, donate your old clothes. This box aims to really bring out the best in our children and show compassion to everyone around us.

Emotions and feelings are another set that has been doing well with parents and children. Our children might be small, but their feelings are big. Their feelings keep oscillating from one moment to another. These cards help in terming what and how they are feeling. We are now launching a few books and will be doing a lot of digital launches as well as we feel the world is moving digital.

What was the main idea behind your first book?

As important as it is for parents to encourage, support and love their children, it is equally important for children to learn to create these feelings within themselves. Children are learning their behavior from the environment, and rewiring their brains from various experiences in life. Affirmations are an effective tool to wire their brains in a positive direction and directly help them with their inner confidence.

Unconsciously most of us and even kids use a lot of negative affirmation. What are those- They go like - It's hard? I can't do this. I don't like how I look. I hate how I speak. These affirmations can get deep-rooted within us and become a part of our belief system.

I have been using affirmations for a long time and I did not realise that it was actually making a difference in my life until I reflected back and saw a huge change with my own thoughts and feelings and overall life confutation. A lot of negative beliefs that I had about myself which came from the outside have now been replaced. My favourite affirmation is I am blessed and share my blessings with everyone. I make a note of a new affirmation every morning and that kick starts my day and sets a positive tone for the entire day.

Tell us about the characters. And which character is close to your heart?

I wanted to have children of different colours and races for this book so more children could relate to it and this book can reach far and wide to various countries. Children all over are the same at heart - they are innocent and impressionable and it's our duty and responsibility to teach them how to talk positively to themselves. Frankly, I love all the characters and we paid a lot of attention to their looks, their colours and their clothes to make them look cute and charming.

Tell us about your future plans

We are producing more content in the space of self-help and wellness for kids. I am also working on a workshop for parents and kids to raise awareness of Affirmations and how to use it in their daily life. While a lot of parents are aware of this, I want this message to spread far and wide to children and the only way it is possible is when the parents believe in it and teach it to their children. Affirmations are tools that can be used not just by children but also by adults and I highly recommend parents to use them as well. The workshop will help parents and children to bring affirmations and gratitude in their daily life and I believe it will help parents to understand mindful parenting. Kids always might not feel like saying affirmations. But we can feed positivity in different ways- through stories, posters, books, etc.