Speak Up! Heidi has a hard time with advocating for herself. So this was a good book for her to read. If she has a question she has a hard time raising her hand and asking for help. She does not want to bother anyone.

The Importance of Self Advocacy:

It is important to learn to advocate for yourself. Part of being a good leader is knowing when to speak up.

Speaking up means stepping out of your comfort zone. Sometimes you may need to ruffle some feathers or put some pressure on someone in order to be heard.

Ways you can demonstrate advocating for yourself:

• have children explain why they make certain choices. Why did you decide to play with this vs. that? Why did you decide to wear a jacket today? ( ummm, it’s cold). When they can articulate why they make the choices they do it builds confidence.
• role play as a peer who is breaking the rules. What would your child do in that situation? What kind of situations require adult help? (Skipping class, sneaking out, watching certain movies, wearing clothes or makeup they are not supposed to, swearing, drinking alcohol, not doing homework) Talk to your child about ways they can speak up in these situations.
• can they speak up when they see someone being teased? What if their friends are the ones doing the teasing?
• Talk to your child about who their ” go to” people are if they feel like they are in a dangerous situation.
• Are there certain topics that your family feels strongly about? (Treatment of animals, religion, political, environmental, disability rights etc.) What would your child do in a situation that went against their beliefs?

Other ideas on helping your child learn to speak up for themselves can be found on the PBS site.