Building Confidence with Self-Esteem Elephant
Characters of Character is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to provide a firm foundation for children to establish strong civic values. How do we accomplish this mission? Since we established ourselves in 2007 after earning a National Promising Practice Award, we have brought all nine characters to life in costume. We have published a social story for each of the nine characters, they are as follows: “Let’s Behave” starring Behavior Bear, “Let’s Persevere” starring Do’er Duck, “Let’s Be Friends”, starring Friendship Frog, “Let’s Be Healthy” starring Healthy Hippo, “Let’s Have Manners” starring Manners Monkey, “Let’s Be Respectful” starring Respectful Rabbit, “Let’s Be Responsible” starring Responsible Rabbit, “Let’s Be Proud” starring Self-Esteem Elephant and “Let’s Be Kind” Starring Warm-Hearted Walrus. These are great social stories to introduce the character and discuss each trait with your children or students. Each character also has a Bulletin Board Book and a Resource Book filled with templates, ideas, engaging activities and ways to focus on each particular trait to teach, reinforce and implement into daily conversations and the lives of our children and youth. These books can be found here.
In the beginning, Joni, the creator thought it would be easy to form a nonprofit organization and get these important messages into the hearts of children, to remind others of the same and to become a part of everyday lives. Boy, was she wrong! To get a space of her own was an expense and the organization was not established to apply for funding. One day there will be a location for members of the community to be welcomed in and learn about the characters, engage in activities, volunteer for projects and empower children and youth in these vital core values. Until then, the characters have been brought to life, published in print and have met thousands of children. The characters have been to many community events such as the Chicago Land Kids Expo, Food Pantries, classrooms, Park Districts, Libraries and even visited homes to discuss these traits with children. We are excited to share that we are also working on Children’s Programming through NECAT in Nashville to bring programming to the surrounding communities in Nashville.
However, before all of this came about, Characters of Character discovered a need for activities in children’s hospitals. Joni visited Shriner’s Children’s Hospital in Chicago with the character Self-Esteem Elephant to spread the message of “I Like ME” where the families met Self-Esteem Elephant and painting the character on canvas to take home as a visual reminder. The character Warm-Hearted Walrus even got to visit a hospital in Huntley, Illinois to donate activities for the children there. With the huge appreciation from these visits, Joni’s daughter Jennifer came up with a beautiful design to emphasize to each child staying in the hospital that they are SUPER! Jennifer published an activity book called, “YOU are Super” and a colorful, sturdy box to add items in, such as a canvas that says, “I am SUPER” for the child to paint, watercolor paints and paintbrush, crayons, an easel to display this artwork, a felt Superhero mask, a laminated character badge on a lanyard, superhero sticker and an autographed greeting card from one of the Characters of Character! These Superhero activity boxes are now being donated to the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s hospital at Vanderbilt, the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, the Rainbow Clinic and Vandy Clinic in Clarksville, Tennessee, Rush Children’s Hospital in Chicago, Ann and Robert Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, Shriner’s Children’s Hospital in Chicago and Northwestern Medicine in Huntley, McHenry and Woodstock, Illinois. These are only donated because of donors and sponsors like you. Some of Sponsors include the Nashville Predators Smile Foundation, Cardinals Care, Meijer Grocer, Rust-Oleum, Coca-Cola, Crane Construction, Lauren Akins and Thomas Rhett and ARNO. You can learn more here about this project and how YOU will make a difference in the life of a child.
Building confidence and self-esteem in the life of a child is important. With this they are more likely to:
Build a foundation for a path to success into adulthood
Encourage feelings of acceptance
Develop stronger coping skills and support their critical thinking abilities
Provide structure and guidance in their Leadership skills and Team Building
Inspire empathy and understanding in one self and others
In our short time here in Tennessee, Joni has partnered with PENCIL to bring a Mindfulness Confidence activity box to their location where they support the Metro Nashville Schools. These activity boxes will be donated to teachers and social workers in need of materials to teach and reinforce this important character trait in our children and youth who live in our community. Learn how YOU can make a difference in the life of a child here. As we all know, schools are different today, families are different today and so are the communities that we live in. To be able to provide a child with tools to reinforce confidence is empowering. Think about how you yourself feels when you feel like you’re going into a meeting and you’re going to nail it, you have confidence! Remember the feeling you had when you went into a job interview, gave a speech or introduced yourself to a new acquaintance. You did this because you had confidence. As a child or young youth they don’t always have confidence in who they are, what they can accomplish or how to handle the pressures of today. With confidence, the know how and a foundation of encouragement they will feel accepted and want to inspire others and to become a better version of one self.
As a mom first and then an educator, I’ve seen what confidence can do in the life of a child, I’ve felt their happiness when they realize that they can accomplish a task and I’ve heard their conversions with peers and siblings to encourage one another. When I formed Characters of Character with the help of a dear friend, Sandy who has since passed on, I had no idea what to expect. Today, sixteen years later I still don’t know what to expect. But, what I do know is that these characters are making a difference, one child at a time and that I have dedicated my life to continue to make a difference in the life of a child. I’ve had past students dress in our character costumes, visit us at events and parents thank me for what we do. That is what keeps us going and the fact that there is a need for such values to be reinforced, to be taught and to be modeled for a child to internalize and grow with, grow into and become better. Much like an adult who has a mentor, a coach or a team to support their growth journey in life. A child also needs guidance, encouragement and a foundation in which they can discover just how absolutely incredible and SUPER they actually are. This is a paper bag puppet of Self-Esteem Elephant and this is Self-Esteem Elephants ears for you to print and discuss self-esteem with your children or students!