The building of self-esteem usually begins at birth. Babies typically start learning about the world immediately after birth. They begin to develop thoughts about themselves from their early experiences, such as what they hear, see, and feel. Self-confidence in children often develops as they view themselves based on their capabilities. A child’s self-esteem usually grows as their confidence increases. The following are ways to promote the development of your child’s self-esteem;
Train Your Child Emotion Regulation
One source of a child’s self-esteem is their ability to handle their own feelings and being able to regulate themselves. You can help your child develop the confidence to handle their own feelings by training them to respond to your cues. For example, you can train them to respond by frequently breastfeeding them at night in a bid to help them learn to calm themselves.
Promote Mastery Orientation
You can also develop your child’s self-esteem by allowing them to create their own mastery, especially of the physical world or their own body. You can achieve this by allowing your child to work their ways out of challenging situations that make them panic. You can encourage them to get out of any confinement, such as that created by the bars of a chair, by watching from a distance and offering little or no assistance. The feeling of succeeding to get out of the confinement unassisted can be pleasing, which could help boost the self-esteem of your kid significantly.
Consider Setting Limits For Your Child
Limit setting is another way of developing a child’s self-esteem. Setting limits does not mean that you are denying your kids happiness or leaving them frustrated. Instead, it is linked to the idea of helping your child develop mastery. In reality, everybody encounters sadness, sorrow, misery, frustration, among other terribly unpleasant things, at some point in their lifetime. It is very important to comfort your child and help them through any unpleasant or challenging situation. You should support them as they struggle to find their own ways out of such troubling situations. Sometimes, setting limits would mean that you have to disappoint your child. In such cases, you should show your child that you recognize the legitimacy of their needs and that you are aware of their disappointment despite you insisting on having things done your way and against your child’s will.
Accept Your Child For Who They Are
Your child can exhibit a difficult temperament, also known as the challenging child. You have to accept and respect them the way they are. You should avoid the temptation of superimposing other characteristics, which you admire, on your child, wishing that they could adopt such qualities. It is advisable to acknowledge the reality of your child’s difficulties instead of thinking that they should be different. Parents usually have expectations of what they want their children to be from a younger age. Labeling a child serves as a limit that reveals what you want them to be or what you do not want them to be.
Children who usually fail to meet the expectations of their parents are either too impulsive or not good enough. Some children may be low energy while others may be high energy. Low energy children are usually slow to respond to situations and often approach things with caution, while high energy children are usually quick to respond to situations and approach things impulsively.
Let Your Child Express Their Feelings
The self-esteem of a child should be gauged based on how they personally feel about themselves, not based on how you feel about them. You can have a child who loves playing quietly and alone. You should never mistake the silence and loneliness for low self-esteem; neither should you mistake the noise and dozens of friends for high self-esteem. What should matter is how your child feels while playing. Some children have low self-esteem yet have dozens of friends, while others have high self-esteem yet have a few friends.
Some children are naturally very sensitive, prone to meltdowns, or experience difficulty with transitions. Most of these children prefer working out things by themselves without needing your intervention, persuasion, and understanding. Such children are usually experiencing perceived stress, which may not require your assistance to solve, as attempting to do so only aggravates the already disorganized little system in them.
Help children be the best that they can be, check out How Can Multiple Behaviour Charts Help Your Kids
Read and learn Everything You Need To Know About Age Appropriate Chore Charts For Kids and Goal Setting for Kids, a Beginner’s Guide for All Parents
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