Self-esteem is related to your children’s sense of self-worth or value. It is associated with their identity, sense of competence, security, self-confidence, belonging and safety. These are all important factors when it comes to your children’s well-being, relationships, decision-making ability, and mental health. It can even affect your children’s motivation. If they do not have sufficient self-esteem, they may not have the confidence to take on new challenges.
A good sense of self-esteem is a necessary part of life. For this reason, it is important to help your children with this. Here are some steps you can take to build healthy self-esteem in your children.
-
Support Your Children in Making Decisions
When your children can make their own decisions, they begin to build confidence. Of course, the decisions you are allowing them to make should be age-appropriate. For example, let your young school-aged children choose what shoes they wear to school each day. Let them pick out their clothes the night before. They can even create a breakfast menu for the week. Allowing them to participate in the decision-making process will help foster healthy self-esteem.
-
Solicit Help From Your Children
Simply asking your children for assistance with something can help develop their self-esteem. This will help them realize that you value their assistance and ideas. You can ask them to help you with dinner or even help create a new recipe to try. Ask them to help with your grocery list. If you are putting together a piece of furniture, ask for help gathering the items necessary. Ask them what color they think is best for your new piece of furniture and let them help paint.
-
Help Develop Your Children’s Talents and Interests
Every child has something they are naturally good at and something that interests them. Your children might be artistic or naturally athletic. Others may love to read and have more academic interests. Focus on that individual interest that each child has and foster that. Spend time with them doing that activity. Sign your children up for a team sport and practice with them at home. Talk with them about the things that interest them and the things in which they excel. When you help your children cultivate their talents and interests, you will help foster their self-esteem.
-
Support Your Children’s Dreams
Your children have dreams of their own, and you probably know what they are. Have a conversation with them about their dreams and goals. Then help them with those aspirations letting them know they can accomplish them. Maybe their goal is to become a builder. Take out the Legos and start building. Praise their efforts and encourage them. Their goals will probably change frequently, but continue to support them to help them develop their self-esteem.
-
Avoid Too Much Praise
Praising your children is beneficial, but too much praise can be harmful. Your children may develop too much self-esteem, which can lead to participating in risky behavior. It may even lead to narcissistic and bullying behaviors. Overly praising your children can ultimately lead to your children feeling unconfident and less willing to try challenging tasks. Finally, it can reduce their ability to discover an internal type of reward and motivation, which they will need to develop because they may not always receive praise from someone else.
Healthy self-esteem is integral to succeeding in life. A good sense of self-esteem can even help your children say no when they want to and enables them to avoid people-pleasing behavior, which can lead to poor relationships. Help your children build self-esteem so that they stay motivated to achieve their goals and be successful.