Good points about friends

Last time, the foster children in this area had time to write briefly about something they are proud of.  And looking at the results, I got the impression that the majority of the children are not aware of their own strengths.  Many children considered good grades to be a strength, but I wanted to ask out loud if that meant they had no other good points.

So this time, we decided to let them get the answer from their friends if they themselves don't know their own good points.  We gave each child several colorful message cards, sticky notes, and flake stickers.  They wrote friend's good points on them and brought them to friends.  Each child had a mount board and friends brought messages to him/her and stuck their messages on his/her mount.  I myself wrote down on flake stickers the wonderful qualities I had noticed about each foster child during the past programs and I distributed them.

No one seemed to have as much trouble figuring out what to write as they did when they wrote about themselves.  Everyone seemed to enjoy writing and exchanging messages.  Many children even asked for more sticky notes and stickers (so they could write to more friends).

Isn't it a wonderful feeling to collect messages that people have written just for you?  Sometimes the words of friends can become treasures.  I hope that the children will discover many good things about themselves that they hadn't thought of or realized were strengths.