How To Raise a Child With High Self-Esteem: 4 Keys To Help Them Grow Up Confident
Do you remember how you felt as a child? The answer is probably not very good if you’re anything like most of us. But luckily, things can be different for your child. As a child grows up, they need an abundance of love and attention to flourish into their true potential, especially regarding self-esteem. Self-esteem is essential in ensuring your child grows up with high self-confidence and trust in their abilities.
Read on to discover 4 ways to raise a child with high self-esteem — so they grow up confident as adults too.
Give your child a safe place to share their feelings
Having a safe space to share their feelings is the key to building high self-esteem in a child. And this happens in the early years when the brain develops and forms pathways for emotions, thoughts, and behaviors that are likely to become deeply ingrained in adulthood. So what can you do to help your child develop a healthy relationship with their emotions?
- When your child is upset, be sure to listen — not lecture, argue or tell them how they ‘should’ be feeling.
- Avoid rushing to fix their feelings with advice and toughen them up with clichés like “don’t cry” or “big boys don’t cry”. Instead, aim to understand what’s behind their feelings. This can be done by reflecting them what you think they are feeling and asking, “what do you think this means?”.
In time, your child will learn to fully identify and understand their feelings and have a safe space to share and process them with you.
Help them build on the things they love and are good at
To take off their self-esteem, use your child’s strengths. This will help them to build confidence in their abilities and explore their interests. As a child grows, they will naturally become interested in different things and develop passions that can be used to excel in life. Whether your child loves art, music, sport, or something else, encourage them to explore it. Even if they’re not ‘good’ at it at first, the important thing is their enjoyment. And by exploring stuff they love, your child will gain self-confidence and self-esteem.
Don’t be afraid to let them make mistakes
Another way to build confidence and self-esteem in your child is to let them make their own mistakes. This can be scary for parents, but it’s a healthy part of growing up. Because your child is not you, they will make mistakes different from yours — and they can learn from them in a way you cannot. If your child makes a mistake or takes a wrong turn, don’t be afraid to let them know that it’s normal and part of the journey.
Show them how much you believe in them
Building a relationship of trust with your child is vital to their self-esteem and self-confidence. Giving your child consistent love and attention can help them develop a strong trust in you. Showing your child that you believe in them is crucial to this. When they make mistakes, avoid being critical or punishing them. Instead, use mistakes to show your child that you believe in them. This can help to nurture their self-esteem and self-confidence.
Raising a child with high self-esteem is essential to helping them grow up healthy and happy. To do this, you must create a safe environment where your child feels loved and accepted for who they are. By taking these steps, you will help your child to grow up feeling confident, secure, and loved — which is what every child deserves to grow up with!
