How To Help Your Child Develop Self-Confidence
Author Bio:Ryan Howard runs Smart Parent Advice,a site that provides parenting advice for moms and dads. Ryan writes about all of the different ups and downs of parenting, provides solutions to common challenges, and reviews products that parents need to purchase for babies and toddlers.
Self-confidence can be a wonderful thing. In fact, having a good level of self-confidence is a major factor in leading a happy and healthy life. So, naturally, if you’re a parent, you will want to help your child to develop self-confidence.
But just how can you go about doing this? Read on to find out.
Provide An Opportunity To Make Decisions
Decision making is a key part of self-confidence. So, helping your child in this area is important. Like a lot of things in life, the best way to learn to make decisions is to practice. As a parent, one of the best things that you can do for your child is to give them the opportunity to start making decisions at an early age.
When your kids are really young, you will want to give them a limited set of choices rather than asking an open decision to make. For example, instead of asking what the family should have for dinner, you might ask if the family should have chicken or pasta, and then plan a meal based on their input. Helping them understand that their opinions are valued, and that their decisions results in good outcomes will have major benefits over time.
Teach Them To Help Themselves
If you do everything for your kids, they might start to feel like they aren’t capable of doing anything themselves. So, it can be a really good idea to encourage them to help themselves. That might mean asking them to put away their bike and helmet after a bike ride. Or, it might mean putting away their own clothes after they come out of the laundry.
The key here is to start with small, simple tasks. Then, over time, they can begin to do more and more.
Point Out Your Own Mistakes
Everyone makes mistakes. It’s inevitable. But, for kids, sometimes making a mistake can make it feel like the sky is falling. A child might drop their food on the ground when they are clearing the table, and burst into tears. Then, the next day, they might not want to clear the table at all because they are worried about making a mess.
The best way to help kids get over this way of thinking is to point out all of the mistakes that you make, and show them it’s not a big deal. If you spill some milk on the ground, call attention to it. You might say whoops, looks like I spilled some milk and need to clean up, and then flash a smile. Over time, they’ll realize that it’s not the end of the world when they make a mistake either.
Offer Up Some Praise
Praising kids’ efforts and achievements is another great way to build confidence. If they draw a picture, or build a castle out of blocks, be sure to praise their accomplishment.
One tip here though, it’s best not to go overboard. If you act like they made the Mona Lisa every time they draw something, they will start to realize it and won’t necessarily value your praise the same way.
Final Thoughts
There are all sorts of things that you can do to help boost your child’s self-confidence. One of the biggest keys is simply making an effort and looking for opportunities to help them develop it. Hopefully, these ideas will help move things in the right direction!
