Parents often fall into this denial of their child feeling unworthy of themselves. And with new lifestyles emerging with time, a child’s self-esteem can drop with them.
In that case, what can a parent do to stop their kid from feeling this way? How can those allow the child to believe in themselves and make themselves shine? In this blog, there are 12 ways to help your child build their self-esteem to evolve into creative, worthy human beings.
1. Allow them to take responsibility
Boosting a child’s esteem firstly comes with seeing what your child’s capabilities are. To see that, hand your child some tasks to do. Doing this will allow them to see their limits and make their choices. Doing so will bring a sense of responsibility in them, allowing them to see their competence.
If they succeed in finishing the task, it will provide a sense of pride and build their self-esteem. Hence, responsibilities will make the child create decisions for themselves. If they can decide on the simple choices, then making decisions for the future will be a piece of cake for them. The spark of independence and the leisure of making choices will boost their self-esteem and allow them to be accountable for their actions.
2. Compliment moderately and wisely
Compliments are simple gestures, which are an easy route for bringing light to someone’s day. However, it can be somewhat harmful in some aspects. Over complimenting can make the child boost their ego with baseless things. It makes it difficult for them to cope up when failure comes their way. Ultimately, it depresses their growth of self-esteem.
Pass your child a compliment when they achieve something nice, do great in a project, or even try hard to achieve something. Compliments help as a catalyst to boost someone’s self-esteem. Not only will it help their self-esteem to grow but also help them practically cope with things.
3. Value their feelings
As a child reaches the teen years, it is easy for them to suppress feelings because they might feel invalidated because of not being heard or not giving their thoughts enough attention. It brings a negative impact on their self-esteem. It is because all the negative feelings turn into adjectives to identify oneself.
For example, “I am stupid enough to feel like this.” “Why am I so dumb to cry about this?” Hence a parent needs to make an effort to listen to their child with all ears. It is an underrated but impeccable way of helping a child’s self-esteem to grow.
Hearing how they feel about themselves, an incident which affected them, or a typical day in their life helps them become confident in sharing the little details but also makes them feel like an individual.
4. Celebrate their achievements
When you’re assigning your child a task or simply watching them work hard for their grades, it is always a good idea to give them validation and reward for their hard work. For example, your daughter finally finished the painting for a project and won the first prize! Celebrate it by cooking her favorite meal.
Your son properly cleans his room, hand him candy and give him words of affirmation. With these little gestures, a child can believe in itself having certain qualities. It encourages them to bring out the best of themselves. With practice, the satisfaction of doing their best boosts their self-esteem.
5. Allow them to pursue their dreams
What is the key to raising a confident child? Allow them to pursue their dreams and make them believe in their choices. Often, kids are trapped by their unheard wishes and hopes because of certain hurdles and judgment. It makes them feel less competent in the world and compels them to feel worthless.
By making them follow their dreams, not only you’ll make them feel more validated, but they grow up to be responsible humans. Permitting them to pursue their dreams also helps to bring their self-confidence up a notch as they feel accepted.
6. Allow them to learn any skills they want
Following the last one, permit them to learn skills on their own. Do they want to learn writing? A certain sport? Or read a book, probably? Do not hesitate to say yes.
Sometimes, your child’s self-esteem boosts up when they find the pleasure of learning a skill on their own. It is a way of making them believe they can achieve everything they want. However, this one should come with some exceptions.
Deduce the skills they want to learn first before saying yes. Otherwise, learning skills not only makes them more competitive with the world but also sculpt their self-esteem.
7. Track their influences in a new place
School and social media play an influential role in your child’s life. Often, a school bully, a post, or even an incident can affect your child’s mental health and can change the way they feel about themselves.
How can you overcome it? Always ask them how their day was and converse on how they’ve been feeling. Observe their behavior and state of mind when they come back. It is ideal to talk about their thoughts and deal with them with a proper state of mind.
How is it related to boosting self-esteem? Sometimes, people in different scenarios can throw dirt in your child’s face and make them feel disgusted. It can bring down their self-esteem due to feeling embarrassed. Often, it is intended to make them feel horrible.
To overcome it, the parents need to eradicate the negative influence and create a safe space for their kids. Lastly, create a positive space in their daily life for social skills. It can be in the form of good people, motivational quotes, and much more. All of these can help the child boost their self-esteem.
8. Plan activities to allow self-love
See, boosting self-love and self-esteem are directly proportional. If you increase self-love as a habit, self-esteem also boosts up. Self-esteem is all about knowing your worth. What better way to do both by telling your kids how much they love themselves?
Tell them to write a letter, present a speech, and more. Incorporate a quick 2-minute mantra saying what they love about themselves every day. These things can help boost a child’s self-esteem as these habits convert into objectives they can associate themselves with.
If we encourage self-love in the kids, they will believe in themselves as worthy, creative humans. If we strengthen self-love, self-esteem will automatically bloom itself.
9. In failures, encourage them to go further
In life, there will be obstacles. There will be triumph and errors. Your child may not always be victorious, making their self-esteem drop. Through times like this, always encourage your child to keep trying. It is okay to fall, but encourage them to pick themselves up.
Building self-esteem is a long journey of trial and error. It is a journey of patience and resilience. It is okay to not be okay at times.
10. Give them time
Following that, give your child time to settle down with their achievements and losses. Self-esteem is something that builds up cumulatively with time. It is wise to let them be at times and not force their wellbeing.
Confidence comes with self-acceptance. Allow them to accept themselves with their mistakes.
With this practice, they can judge their choices and fix them. This way, a child can build their self-esteem up without realizing it. As mentioned earlier, it is a journey of patience. And it is always fruitful.
11. Give them love and care
Tell them how loved they are, how much of a priority they are, and how much of an influence they have in your life. Show them how much you care and would do for them. Love them with all your might and how your affection with little actions every day.
Self-esteem starts building up from the moment a child emerges in its growing years. Sometimes with love, a child can believe in itself and can take risks for their future. Telling your kids how much you love them can make them confident and bring healthy self-esteem.
12. Don’t panic while applying these practices
This one’s a hard pill to swallow. It is okay if your child hates themselves at times. Self-esteem does not come with an instant. It comes out gradually. Sometimes, a child realizing their self-worth can come with reasoning.
At times like this, it is vital to slow down, take a deep breath, and keep trying. Keep showing your kids support and give them all the love. Deal with the emotions with a clear mind and let time do its thing.
Building self-esteem is a journey. It cannot be complicated nor imaginative. Keep in mind that it will not be perfect sometimes. Always try to make your child feel special and loved, give them rewards, and prioritize them. Tell them to keep trying, appreciate their hard work, and encourage them to take risks. Self-esteem is a rocky venture, but with practice, one can come around it with ease. Happy parenting!