The objective of this study was to identify the match value between self-assessment and indirect assessment of stress by children of primary school age. The participants of the study were 132 junior schoolchildren aged 8-12 years, studying in grades 3-4 in a school in the Moscow Region. Indirect evaluation was measured with the projective Etkind's Color Test of Relationships; two indicators were chosen: the first one was the child's assignment of a stressful situation as "pleasant" (high significance) or less pleasant (low significance); the second indicator was the child's assessment of stress as a positive or negative phenomenon. Self-assessment of stress was measured with the Perceived Stress Scale for Children, PSS-C. It was shown that at the age of 8-12 years, children are able to assess stress differently: negatively – as a distress, and positively – as an eustress. Depending on the degree of relevance of the stressful situation for the child and its negative indirect assessment, indicators of self-assessment of stress change. In children who perceived stress as a relevant situation and indirectly assessed it negatively, self-assessment of stress was high; if the stressful situation was indirectly assessed as positive, the self-assessment of stress was low. At the same time, positive assessment of stress can also be an indicator of a successful coping with it or attest to the psychological defenses that prevent the child from overcoming feelings of anxiety and stress.