What is confidence?  This is an important question to consider before we start to teach our children. The answer will help you discover the right way to instill this valuable trait.  Dusty, the main character in Disney Planes displays a great example of the confidence I want to instill in my children.

For our family, confidence is NOT thinking highly of ourselves. It’s NOT thinking that we can do anything we want. Confidence is being sure of our beliefs and knowing our abilities, our strengths and weaknesses.

We start teaching our children confidence at a very young age. Our son is 2-years-old and each day brings new opportunities to help cultivate character.

I Can’t Do It

How many times has your child said this phrase?  Sometimes I let my children say it.  I let them struggle, get frustrated and work out a problem on their own without intervening.  Overcoming that I-Can’t-Do-It situation on their own can quickly build confidence.

In Disney Planes, Dusty exemplifies this struggle principal.  He doesn’t give up and keeps going even when thing start getting really tough.

Now I don’t do this for everything.  There are some things that they just can’t do because of their physical and mental restrictions.  This is also an essential part of confidence.  There are things that we will never be able to do and it wouldn’t be wise of us to struggle through it or even attempt to do it.  For example, I know that I will never be a professional basketball player, and most likely, my children won’t either.  We are just short people.

Part of having confidence is knowing our limits and that it’s wise to say “I can’t do it” or ask for help sometimes.  Again, Dusty knows when he can’t go on or needs some extra help from his friends.

Standing Your Ground

What you believe defines who you are.  If you believe that there is a fire in the room, you will act based on that belief.  If I started yelling that there was a fire, when you could see that their wasn’t one, you would also act based on your belief even though it was contrary to what I was saying.  You would stand your ground.

One thing that my children haven’t experienced yet is defending their beliefs.  This skill is part of my definition of confidence, so how do I start to cultivate this in my children when they don’t experience it?

I educate and make them practice.  We explain what is right and wrong to our children and help them remember through discipline and roll play.  Having clear consequences for their wrong actions does more to instill beliefs than anything else I can do.  After that, we sometimes describe situations and ask them what the right thing to do is.

This is my favorite thing in the #PlanestotheRescue Movie.  No matter what other people are doing, Dusty stands up for what he believes is right.  He puts other people ahead of his own well being and isn’t afraid of being ridiculed for it.

That’s how I want my son to act, but I know it will take a lot of work.  So I start with the little things at 2-years-old like sharing his favorite new Planes toy that we got at Walmart or putting on his shoes by himself, climbing some rocks…

falling down…

and getting back up to try again.

Make sure you check out Disney’s Planes Fire & Rescue in theaters July 18th!

The post Disney Planes: Inspiring Confidence in Young Children first appeared on True Aim.

Even though she didn’t know how to swim, my 2-year-old walked over to the pool and jumped in!  I wasn’t even close to her and had to swim like an Olympian to pull her up!  As she came out of the water, I was surprised to see no tears; just a smile and legs kicking ready to jump again.   Like all young kids, she had no fear!  I wouldn’t call it courage – she just had no concept of danger yet.

Within a couple of years, she had grown much more cautious.  I was happy at first.  Then, I saw her fears become more of a problem.  She didn’t want to try new things, and I didn’t want that to hold her back.  We started to talk more about courage and fears and planned some activities to help her step out of her comfort zone.  It really helped!

That’s why I wanted to see the new Disney movie, Planes.  It was a great opportunity to talk about courage and give my kids some more practice overcoming fears.

To kick off our family movie night, we invited a friend over to make some snack boxes and play a game about being courageous.  To prepare the Airplane Snack Boxes ahead of time, I cut the top half off of a box and glued some construction paper on.

The girls chose the wings and propellers they wanted and then decorated them.

Teaching Children About Courage

As they were decorating, I asked the girls if they knew what courage was.  Audrey was the first to answer.  She said, “It is being brave.”  So I had to ask, “What does being brave mean?”  She responded, “It means you aren’t afraid.”

Although that is part of the answer, I explained that it’s good to be afraid sometimes because that’s how our minds warn us of dangerous things.  I said that having courage and being brave means that you will do the right thing even if you are afraid to do it.  Having courage also means that you are willing to try new things even if you are scared, when someone you trust says it’s okay.

I had a question for each of the girls to see if they understood.   Questions like, “If you put something in your pocket at the store and accidentally walked out without paying for it, what would be the courageous thing to do?” and “What if someone told you to do a bad or unsafe thing?  What would a courageous person do?” and “Who is a person you can trust and try new things with?”

After we were done making our snack boxes, we filled them with goodies from Walmart.  Aren’t these Jello cloud parfaits cute?!

We also had some Airplane sandwiches and stoplight veggies

Before they had a chance to dig in, we had to have our own race!  The winner of the race got a special treat.  I had all the children line up and take a couple of practice runs.  Then, I told them they would have to race against me!  Ready.  Set.  Go!

Ouch!  Thud.  I pretended to fall and that I couldn’t get up.  Moaning added to the effect.  Of course, little Colton was the first on the scene, asking if I was O.K. with his little, “Oh! Oh!”  I stood up and thanked him and announced the winner of the race… Colton!

I explained that I never said the winner was the first to cross the finish line.  The winner was the person who showed courage and did the right thing even if it meant losing the race.  So, I gave Colton a treat to share with everyone.  Then, to practice trying new things, we had the girls take turns jumping off a few stairs into Daddy’s arms.

Disney Planes Movie

In Disney’s Planes, courage isn’t just about not being afraid to try new things.  The main theme is doing what is right and caring for others.  That is the most important attribute of a courageous person.  A courageous person always does the right thing even if they are scared.

The kids loved the movie!  There were a couple of minor bad words used in the movie like “moron”, but overall it was very clean.  Have you seen the movie, or are you going to watch it?  I’d love to hear what you thought!

You can download even more activities to go with Disney Planes on Pinterest or like the movie on Facebook.  It is available to own on Blu-ray Combo Pack & Digital HD on November 19!

Do you have any suggestions on teaching children about courage?  Please leave a comment!

The post Teaching Children About Courage: Disney Planes Movie Night first appeared on True Aim.