Self-Awareness

Self-Awareness is the thinking skill that focuses on a child's ability to accurately judge her own performance and behavior and to respond appropriately to different social situations. Self-Awareness helps an individual to tune into her feelings, as well as to the behaviors and feelings of others. For example, a child successfully uses self-awareness skills when she notices that she is talking too loudly in a library where other children are trying to work, and then adjusts the volume or her voice to a more considerate level.

Video games can help improve self-awareness by allowing kids to practice their self-awareness skills while in the midst of a fun and immersive gaming experience. Many games require that players think about their thinking in the game in order to move up a level, and multiplayer games require interpersonal cooperation and understanding of the intentions of teammates.

Watch the video below to learn more about how video games can help your child improve her Self-Awareness thinking skill.




Featured Self-Awareness Games and Beyond Games
Pick a Self-Awareness game or other digital technology (Beyond Games) from the lists below.

Learn More About Self-Awareness

Self-Awareness involves the ability to accurately judge one's own performance and behavior and to respond appropriately to different social situations. This Thinking Skill helps individuals to understand the needs and feelings of others and helps children gain some perspective on their decision-making and skill-development.

Self-Awareness implies a degree of thoughtfulness about one's activities and responsiveness to others in one's environment. It requires the abilities to comprehend nonverbal cues, understand social conventions, ask oneself questions that facilitate problem-definition, and assess one's successes.

Skillful application of self-awareness is seen when children:

• are able to compliment others.
• motivate others through the use of understanding, leadership skills, and personal energy.
• give themselves and others positive rather than negative messages.
• recognize the needs of younger children, such as holding their hands while crossing a street.
• are willing to evaluate themselves.
• have an awareness of how their behavior impacts others.
• display an ability to understand and articulate their feelings.
• to use self-instruction, such as, "First, I'll do this; next, I'll do that."
• are able to identify what they must learn in order to complete a task successfully.
• understand their personal strengths and weaknesses.

Unskilled use of self-awareness is seen when children:

• stand too close to others during a conversation.
• have difficulty understanding nonverbal cues and body posture.
• are unable to understand other people’s perspectives.
• are in frequent conflict with others due to misunderstandings.
• engage in inappropriate behaviors without recognizing how they impact others.
• have difficulty explaining how they approach and/or solve a problem.
• have difficulty being accurate in their self-assessment, such as in describing their academic or athletic performance.
• are unlikely to double-check their work and often make simple mistakes, such as adding instead of subtracting.

Home and school situations that require self-awareness:

• understanding personal strengths and weaknesses in academic subjects, athletics, or other extracurricular activities
• achieving an awareness of how one's behavior can impact others
• being able to evaluate preparedness for a quiz or performance on a test
• articulating feelings when dealing with peers or siblings
• checking homework or in-class assignments for mistakes
• recognizing the consequences of decisions in advance, such as the probable results of misbehaving at recess or not finishing one’s homework
• understanding why a sibling or peer is upset
• managing one’s attitude so that it is appropriate for the setting or event
• helping a parent or teacher with chores or work
• letting another child borrow a possession, such as a toy or pencil  
• being a member of a sports team or club

Hints and strategies to improve Self-Awareness:

• help your child to self-evaluate by using checklists. Before she begins a chore or task, discuss how both of you will determine that the task has been successful completed, and develop a checklist together to use in determining how effectively the task has been completed. For example, a checklist for evaluating a successfully cleaned bedroom might include items such as: I made my bed; I put my dirty clothes in the laundry basket; I put my toys in the bin; I put my papers in my desk drawer. Both you and your child should complete the checklist after having finished the task, and then discuss why each of you rated the items as you did. Be sure to praise your child for accurate self-evaluation, and then brainstorm ideas for improving accuracy in the future.
  
  
• ask your child to try to predict the outcome of a situation. Teach her to think about the different factors and obstacles that might affect the successful completion of tasks, such as an upcoming science project, a soccer game, or a musical performance. Keep track of your child's predictions in a journal that serves as a direct reminder for your child and can be used for later comparisons. After the activity has been completed, discuss your child's predictions, and identify possible reasons for any inaccuracies.
  
  
• model self-verbalization skills by expressing your thoughts and problem-solving strategies aloud. This process will allow your child to identify otherwise hidden metacognitive strategies. For example, verbalize statements such as, “This reminds me of the time when we tried to do this” or, “I need to think about what worked and didn’t work the last time we did this.” Encourage your child to use similar self-instructional strategies to aid her in problem-solving tasks, such as putting a puzzle together, solving a math problem, or brainstorming for an art project.
  
  
• point out verbal and nonverbal cues in social situations so as to help your child more readily identify these cues. This can be done by observing a social situation -- for example, sitting on a bench at a playground while you and your child compare your observations of a specified group of children's interactions. Gradually, have your child become the sole reporter of the social interactions that she observes, and challenge her to point out specific behaviors, physical actions, facial expressions, and verbalizations to substantiate her hypotheses.
  
  
• help your child set up a play date with a friend. Prior to the friend’s arrival, try to anticipate some of the friend’s needs and interests. Have your child prepare some activities that she expects her friend will enjoy. Additionally, have her help you prepare for other house guests, such as grandparents, cousins, or family friends, with a similar theme in mind.
  

Further Reading About Self-Awareness:

• Cooper-Kahn, Joyce, Ph.D. and Laurie C. Dietzel Late, Lost, and Unprepared: A Parent's Guide to Helping Children with Executive Functioning (Chapter 16). Maryland: Woodbine House, 2008.
  
  
• Cox, Adam J., Ph.D. No Mind Left Behind (Chapter 8). London, England: Perigee Press, 2007.
  
  
• Csoti, Marianna. Social Awareness Skills for Children. Philadelphia, PA: Taylor & Francis Group, 2001.
  
  
• Dawson, Peg, Ed.D. and Richard Guare, Ph.D. Smart but Scattered. (Chapter 21). New York: The Guilford Press, 2009.
  
  
• Dawson, Peg, & Richard Guare. Executive Skills in Children and Adolescents. New York: Guilford Press, 2010.
  
  
• Larkin, Shirley. Metacognition in Young Children. London, England: Routledge, 2009.
  
  
• McCloskey, George, Perkins, Lisa A., & Bob Van Divner. Assessment and Intervention for Executive Function Difficulties. New York: Routledge, 2009.
  
  
• Plummer, Deborah M. Social Skills Games for Children. Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley Publishing, 2008.
  
  
• Richard, Gail J. and Jill K. Fahy The Source for Development of Executive Functions. East Moline, IL.: Lingua Systems, 2005.