Child Self Confidence - how to build it
Does your child show early signs of future success? Or does he or she avoid the limelight altogether? As you might know, self confidence is essential in all human beings. But what is more necessary is to instill this confidence at a tender age. Perhaps you would be surprised to know that child self confidence may even be more of utmost importance than in any other age.
Developing self-esteem as young as 2 years old can prove to be rewarding as this is the age when your child most absorbs whatever he or she hears, sees and feels – just like a sponge. Children who learn how to believe in themselves and their abilities grow up to be independent, mature beings who trust their own decisions and are able to handle responsibility very well. Therefore, they are more likely to achieve success as adults.
Your role as parent - responsibility and reward
As parents, it is imperative for you to know how to build self confidence in your children. Starting child self confidence at an early age will get you to thinking that it might be hard, but it’s actually not. Teaching your children to keep their toys or pick up their clothes coloring materials after they use it is one good way to help them learn about responsibility. Simple, isn’t it?
As they get older, you can give them tasks that help them feel that they are needed and important, as well as responsible. And aside from encouraging them to keep trying, don’t forget to show appreciation for a job well done. This gesture gives your children the notion that they did something right, and that boosts their self-esteem.
You can start training your children by giving them domestic tasks that you know they can handle. One thing to take note of though, you would have to make sure that you are able to explain to them that they are not being punished. Instead, try to find ways to make them feel that you are asking them to do this to help you, and that responsibility results to rewards.
These rewards may not be material however, but you must make it a point to reward them with a good feeling about themselves, and that’s where appreciation and praises kick in. Most children regard household chores as a form of punishment, so it is better not to use these menial tasks to reprimand them for doing something wrong.
Trust your children and they will trust themselves
Some parents though, feel a strong need to protect their offspring. As such, they tend to make the mistake of robbing their children the opportunity to learn how to make decisions for themselves. Although this feeling is but natural, what you need to understand is the underlying effect of such an attitude. Children who were not trusted by their parents to make their own decisions grow up to be adults who also do not trust their abilities in making sound choices.
Let us first try to understand what self-esteem means. Self-esteem is basically how a person regards himself or herself. This is how he or she sees, values, accepts, respects and even likes who and what he or she is. Now try to relate this to your own view of who and what you are. How you see yourself consequently affects how significant you think you are in this world. And if what you see is not so good, you cannot expect yourself to exude much confidence. Therefore, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to respect or like or at the very least even accept yourself.
This kind of regard for oneself doesn’t happen just like that. So you don’t need to be a psychologist to know that lack of self-esteem results from a series of events that have happened to you possibly since you were little. And knowing how your parents are the first persons to open your eyes to this world, how they treated you since you were a baby is a crucial part of how you have come to see yourself as a person as you grow older.
With that in mind, you must know now how much your feelings affect how you perceive yourself. Now that you are more aware of how emotions are in accordance to self-esteem, you have a better idea on how to build child self confidence. You must be wondering how exactly you’re going to do that. Well, before determining the list of what you need to do, take note of a few tips that you need to know as parents.
Key points on child self confidence:
- Nobody is perfect. So don’t expect your children to be.
- It’s okay to make mistakes. So give enough room for your children to make them.
- Mistakes are experiences. Experiences always teach us lessons. Let them experience it.
- Everyone needs a pat on the back. Don’t deprive your children of appreciation especially when they deserve it the most.
- Respect is earned and learned, not dictated. If you want your children to respect you, teach them what it is by respecting them too.
- Every person is capable of giving and receiving unconditional love. Teach this to your children by showing it to them, whether they deserve it or not. If you can’t love them, no one else will. Not even themselves.
- Success begins at a very young age. It’s your job as parents to mold your children into becoming successful people before they even determine what success is for them.
- Constant disappointment entails low self-esteem. Your children will be afraid to take risks and chances, thinking themselves as incapable or inadequate, if they know you’re always disappointed in them.
Building self confidence in children is just as easy as destroying it. And it is just as hard. Remember that foundation is essential in everything, and once a person has developed child self confidence, it would take a lot of hard work for someone else to sabotage their belief in themselves. So do not waste any more time and start helping your child become confident now. Who ever said success only happens when we’re old and experienced? Now you know it, success begins at 2!
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