How to Boost Emotional Health: Forgiveness Activity Sheet for Kids

What You Will Learn:

• Understanding forgiveness: Learn what forgiveness is and how it helps us release anger and hurt, making room for healing and personal growth.
• Emotional aspect of forgiveness: Discover how to face hurt feelings without letting them control us and release emotions appropriately.
• Cognitive aspect of forgiveness: Understand the importance of seeing things from another person’s perspective and realizing that everyone makes mistakes.
• Behavioural aspect of forgiveness: Learn how to take positive actions, such as setting boundaries, talking through feelings, or forgiving even without an apology.
• 4 benefits of forgiveness: Explore the physical, emotional, and relational benefits of forgiveness, such as improved health, reduced stress, and stronger, healthier relationships.
• Steps to forgive someone: Gain practical steps for forgiving, including feeling your emotions, understanding the other’s perspective, expressing your feelings, and letting go of anger.
• Forgiveness Activity Sheet: A tool for children to help process emotions through drawing, writing letters, positive affirmations, and visualization exercises.
• Self-forgiveness: Learn the importance of self-compassion, accepting mistakes, and growing from them without self-blame.
• Parenting lesson: Discover how forgiving others and yourself teaches children compassion, assertiveness, and resilience.

“In the end, forgiveness is a gift to yourself.” Maya Angelou

Understanding Forgiveness:

Forgiveness is when we let go of the anger and hurt we feel when someone has done something wrong to us. It's deciding not to hold a grudge anymore. Forgiveness is about dealing with our feelings, understanding why someone hurt us, and trying to move forward without being angry all the time. Here are three aspects to consider about  forgiveness: emotional, cognitive and behavioral 

Emotionally:

Emotionally, forgiveness means facing up to hurt or upset feelings without letting them control us. Instead of keeping all those feelings bottled up inside, forgiveness helps us to let them out appropriately so they don't bother us as much anymore.

Cognitively:

Forgiveness also means trying to see things from the other person's point of view. It's about realizing everyone makes mistakes, and we're all human. Forgiveness isn't about saying what someone did was okay, but it's about being open to the idea that people can change and that there might be reasons behind their actions.

Behaviorally 

Behaviorally, forgiveness involves doing things that help fix the problem to improve them. Trying to fix the problem might mean talking to the person who hurt you, setting boundaries to protect yourself, or forgiving them even if they don't apologize. Forgiveness is about taking control of the situation and responding with kindness instead of anger.

Forgiveness takes time and effort and can be challenging. By forgiving others, we free ourselves from carrying around all that negativity and make room for happier and healthier relationships. What are the benefits of forgiving?

4 Benefits of Forgiveness:

• Forgiving helps us feel better and grow as people. When we let go of being mad at someone, we make room for healing and becoming more assertive.
• Forgiveness can also make our bodies healthier! It can lower stress, maintain blood pressure, and strengthen our immune system.
• When we forgive, we become more understanding and kinder to others. It also helps us bounce back from tough times and feel more peaceful.
• As parents, forgiving others teaches our kids to be compassionate and assertive, essential for building good relationships and facing challenges.

How to Forgive:

• First, it's important to admit when someone hurts us and let ourselves feel our emotions without feeling bad.
• Then, try to understand the situation from the other person’s perspective. It's putting ourselves in their shoes, not to say it's okay, but to see they're human too.
• Next, we talk to the person about how we feel using “I” statements not to blame the person but to express our needs and boundaries and try to repair things. At this time, we need to be prepared for the other person not to apologize to us. That’s okay.
• Finally, decide to stop feeling angry and be kind to the person who hurt you and yourself. It's like saying, "I'm letting go of being angry and being nice instead."

Forgiveness Activity Sheet

• Helps children process emotions and understand forgiveness in a practical, engaging way.
• One section might encourage children to:
• Draw or write about a time when someone upset them.
• Identify and express their feelings.
• Prompts for writing a letter to the person who hurt them, whether or not they choose to send it:
• Articulate thoughts and begin the process of letting go.
• Space for children to list positive affirmations to repeat:
• Reinforces self-worth.
• Emphasizes that forgiveness is a gift they give themselves.
• A simple visualization exercise:
• Imagine anger or hurt being released like a balloon floating away.
• Symbolizes the act of letting go.

Forgiving Ourselves:

Self-Compassion:

Self-compassion is about accepting that we're not perfect and that it's okay to make mistakes. Instead of blaming ourselves, we can learn from what happened and move forward with kindness.

Ask for Help:

Sometimes, we might feel lost or need help figuring out what to do. But it's important to remember that we're all learning as we go, and it's okay to ask for help along the way.

Grow and Change:

Forgiveness helps us grow and change. By letting go of self-blame and embracing self-compassion, we can become stronger and more resilient. As we learn to forgive ourselves, we also teach our children. 

Remember, the key is to lead by example and create a safe space for open communication within your family. 

                                                      Change begins with ourselves!

                                                  You are not alone in this parenting journey!

To learn more about Cathy or FREE RESOURCES, check out her website at parentingyoungsters.com

Children’s Books: Finding Lily’s Inner Magic: A Tale of Building Confidence

                                        Lily’s Journey to Forgiveness: Letting Go of Hurt and Anger - Coming Soon!

Follow Cathy: 

Instagram: - https://www.instagram.com/parenting_youngsters/

Facebook: - https://www.facebook.com/tipsforparentingyoungsters

DISCLAIMER

The Tips for Parenting Youngsters Podcast and content posted by Cathy Barker is presented solely for general information, educational, and entertainment purposes. The use of information on this podcast or materials linked from this podcast or website is at the user’s own risk. It is not intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, professional coach, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional, diagnosis, or treatment. Users should not disregard or delay in obtaining medical advice for any medical or mental health condition they may have. They should seek the assistance of their healthcare professional for any such conditions.