The morning began with a meaningful reflecting discussion: what makes you, you? Not just the big things but the tiny quirks, the imperfect parts, the silly habits that you have. Through this discussion, the goal was to help each child acknowledge, understand, and appreciate their unique identity. After this warm conversation, the facilitator introduced the idea of symbolic self portraits. The one that capture your true essence and makes you special. This was further explained with a dive in to the world of Rene Magritte, the Belgian surrealist painter known for his thought provoking images. Margritte’s art encourages viewers to look beyond the obvious, challenging them to question their perception of reality. We went with this approach and showed children his work so children could see that a self portrait isn't just about facial features it's about the symbols, ideas, colors and objects that reflect how you see yourself and makes you stand out beyond appearances. For the children at the summer camp, this became the gateway to exploring the most important subject of all: themselves.

The objective of the day was to help children explore who they are, from the inside out, and reflect on the relationships that make them feel safe, loved, and valued. Often, as caregivers, there’s so much about a child’s inner world that remains unknown to us, things that can’t be put into words. But art creates a space where words are not the only language and where children don’t have to be “right” , “fast”, or “perfect”.

Usually, children are asked to make cards for someone else. But this time, the task was a little different, and perhaps the most important: to make a card for yourself. A card that speaks of your strengths, weaknesses, fears, passion and dreams. A card that holds space for everything you are. Soon after this, a heartwarming moment came during a group discussion when the facilitator asked, “what do you love the most about yourself?” The answers revealed something striking about growing up. The youngest among the group responded with unfiltered confidence- “I have three moles and I love that about myself” one child said in a squeaky tone when another grinned “I love my shiny teeth”. But as the question reached the older children, hesitation crept in. One whispered “I don’t know, my dad says I have nice eyes maybe?” This slight change reflected that as we grow older, our sense of sense often gets clouded by external expectations- Pressures like this, how we look, how successful we are, how we behave lead to self comparisons and internal doubt quietly replacing the natural self love that children often begin with.

Gradually, from just one loved thing about themselves, the children created entire self portraits that symbolised their essence, building from a place of truth. Inside their cards were written lines that warmed our hearts: “I feel loved when my mom plays with me” , “I feel safe when I’m in my mom’s arms”, “I feel powerful when I run”. These weren’t just sentences, they were affirmations. Through this medium, children remind themselves of who they are, what they value and who they hold close. As per research, affirmation cards and symbolic self portraits help reduce self doubt and nurture self esteem by giving a creative, tangible proof of one’s worth and uniqueness. Symbolic self portraits are a powerful tool in social-emotional learning (SEL) that fuses self awareness in providing children with an expressive outlet to communicate their identities, emotions and values in ways that go far beyond words.

As we wrapped things up, every card became a quiet celebration of every child where each scribble, each odd character and every burst of colour was a declaration: “This is me!”

-Written by Barka Syed