Self- Esteem simply translates into feeling good about yourself, knowing you are doing well and believing in yourself. As a parent how do you react to your child’s accomplishments? Do you encourage your child to try out new things? Do you make them feel guilty about their petty mistakes?
Self Esteem helps children try new things that they would have generally avoided and if things don’t go as planned, they try again. They face challenges rather than avoid them. Complimenting your kids makes them feel more confident about themselves. But constantly praising your kid will do more harm than good.
Self-esteem plays an important role in the development of your kid, helping them Learn and Grow better as they explore the world. Here are some ways to effectively build your child’s self-esteem:
- Sometimes Let them decide: Kids often depend on parents for things they can do themselves. One way to build self-esteem is to give them freedom to decide certain things for themselves or choose between options. When they see the results of their decisions, they start getting a sense of self.
- Celebrate being Unique: With your kids playing with other kids around the same age group, kids often learn what’s their similarities and differences. Let them know that everybody is Unique and that’s amazing.
Ask what’s unique to them and not how they are different from others. Weave positivity into your thoughts, make them feel good about themselves and accept people around them for who they are. This helps boost your kid’s self-esteem.
- Step back at times: It often happens that when a kid is a situation, they are not accustomed to, Parents often run to save them. That’s a wonderful thing to do, but not all the time. If you think the situation isn’t going to cause any harm to your kid, then watch your child from a distance and let them be.
Let them make choices, solve problems, make mistakes, trying to clean up their mess. With parents running after their every move, they think themselves not as an individual and depend on their parents for different tasks.
- ‘NO’: Give your kids a chance to says no. Agree to the decisions that won’t hurt them or anyone. Kids need to realize that their decisions have consequences and assert themselves.
Learn how to say ‘no’ to your kids. Saying yes to everything they ask for will give them an impression that they will have a yes to everything, everywhere. Which in life beyond home, a very wrong impression to have.
- Perfection is a Myth: Tell your kids that no one is perfect and no one expects them to be perfect. The way you will react to your kid’s mistakes is how their reaction to their mistake will be. Make them feel it’s okay to make mistakes and there is always a next time.
Do not make your kids feel guilty about every little mistake they make; it creates a great damage to their self-esteem making them feel less confident about their moves and decisions.
- Praise Genuinely: If you are praising your kid all the time, it might prove to not be much effective. Healthy praises at genuine times helps build your kid’s self-esteem and lets them know that their willpower and practice has got them the praise.
Not just because you keep it showering all the time. Your praise should have an impact on them making them feel like they achieved something big. Helping them keep trying new things.
As we have arrived to the end of this article, we hope you enjoyed reading this insightful article and implement these ways that prove effective in building your kid’s self-esteem.