Names Can Never Hurt Me

As a teacher or parent, you know how often children complain about someone calling them names, and it’s such a difficult thing to deal with on the spot. Children are often deeply upset by name calling.

Name calling is also called labelling. When a child is labelled by another child or an adult, the child feels like it has changed them and the whole of them is now the label. They absorb so much from their surroundings, as though they are without filters to filter out the opinions of others. They may start to believe they are the label and call themselves this label in their inner talk or outer talk.

Even labels that seem harmless, like ‘good boy’ or ‘good girl’, actually put children on the scales of worth, and we know that scales go up and down. Children who feel that they are on the high side of the scales often become anxious that they will make a mistake and drop to the low side. Children who feel that they are on the low side of the scales often experience depression.

Self-acceptance is much safer than self-worth as a concept. May you share the ideas in this book with your children, help them stay off the scales of worth, and teach them self-acceptance.
 

Product details

Format: Saddle-stitch
Dimensions: 297 x 210 mm (A4 Landscape)
Pages: 28 pgs
Other: Illustrated by Leo Herreygers