How important is self-esteem in a child's development? Developing self-esteem during childhood is very crucial. This is because it could affect the child in every stages of his or her development. How he looks at him or herself will definitely affect his or her future relationships, career development, confidence, prosperity and even happiness. Studies have shown that one of the traits happy people share is having a positive self-image of themselves.
How does a parent that his or her child has a healthy self-image? There are several ways to do this. Below are just some of the things you can do to develop your child's self-esteem.
Never compare your child with other children
The single most devastating thing a parent can do to ruin his or her child's self-esteem is to compare him or her with other children. Unfortunately, comparisons are very much a part of our culture particularly our schooling system. One of the ways a child gets compared to other children is through peer pressure.
Every child knows that there is tremendous pressure from other children, particularly from the ones in school to conform to the ways of a certain group. That is why in school you can see several cliques and these groups can be identified with different labels. There are the jocks, the jerks, the nerd or geek, the addict, the slut, etc. These groups are inherently not bad but oftentimes group's identity precedes the individual's identity which could lead into a loss in identity and eventually low self-esteem.
To most adults these are just groups and labels but for a young innocent child the cliques are their world. Your child intentionally or not gets labeled and his or her tendency to is group with the ones with similar ideas and interests.
Always praise and encourage your children
When you talk to your child, always remember to use positive and encouraging words. If your child has done something praiseworthy then do not hold back on the kind and beautiful words. Doing so will do wonders for your kid's self esteem. It does not matter whether the act is big or small. If he did something good then praise him for it. There is nothing more discouraging than the feeling of not being appreciated for the things that you have done.
Praising and encouraging children provides them with a positive self image of themselves. For them, it means that they are important enough for you to notice and recognize their achievements in life.
By constantly giving kind encouraging words to children, you can ensure that they will grow healthy psychologically.
Of course if they did something wrong, children should be reprimanded. But should do it in a way that it won't hurt their ego and damage their esteem. Whenever they have done something that is less than d desirable always make it clear to them that you are not in favor with the deed and not with them.
Remember, developing your child's self-esteem is very important in his or her progress. Just follow the guidelines to make sure that your kid will grow up mature emotionally and mentally.
CONFIDENCE AND SELF ESTEEM In my over-twenty-year practice as an outpatient psychologist, I hear from people with low self-esteem almost every day. It touches every aspect of their lives, most importantly their relationships. Self-esteem impacts job performance, raises, promotions, and work locations--the bottom line being quality of life. It is a BIG issue. I think of self-esteem as being made up of four foundations experiences. I call them Powers. They can be found in an ebook I have written about how these evolve from our early experiences and how they manifest in just about every later-life experience. There is a self-test to figure out which of the four Powers is strength and which is a weakness. Frequently we use the stronger ones to compensate the weaker one(s). Sometimes we just focus on remediation of just one Power. In any case, once diagnosed, the psychological work begins. Confidence comes from having a good self-esteem, which can emerge from any one of the four Powers. The first Power is Worth. It usually reflects early-in-life experiences, largely derived from messages gleaned from parents. It ties to religion, philosophy of the world and chronic expectations based upon "how it went" when we were very, very young. This Power, and the foundation concepts to follow from the other Powers carry us through later life events. How we "are" in the midst of any life event largely dates back to how we "were" early on, and how our parents or caregivers nurtured us, or left us to the elements. Central to these experiences is the surfacing of our core experience of self. It is either worth something or impaired in some way. The sense of self interacts with the environment, nearly one hundred percent in the beginning, less so as we grow up and become autonomous. At any stage, it has value or is dinged by life events. In the latter case, there is doubt about self-worth. Lack of confidence is the subjective experience stemming from lack of basic worth. If we did not manage well in early life, or if we feel that support is lacking in adversity, then there is proportional anxiety about future events. Even in "the present," there is anxiety because lurking in the background is that ever vague but pressuring feeling that something is amiss. "Something will go wrong or perhaps it is just me that is wrong," are comments I frequently hear. The former is more of a response to early adverse circumstances. The latter is a direct reflection of thoughts of poor self-worth. This is only one of the four Powers, any one of which can contribute to the experience of poor self-esteem. I picked this one to initially focus on because it is the first in line, so to speak; meaning, the formation of this Power occurs earlier in our developmental timeline and usually forms the foundation upon which most of the other Powers build. In future articles, there will be discussions of the other three Powers. In short, to build confidence, first we need a foundation of self that is worth something. Put negatively, lack of confidence reflects deficits in our early environment, but more importantly, our relationship to the experiences in that early time. What we "came away with" is relatively stable even though the events that formed our impressions have passed. The core of this identity we call self, and its relative value we call esteem.
Both John Samson & Steven Griggs, Ph.d. are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Steven Griggs, Ph.d. has sinced written about articles on various topics from Marketing, Cure Anxiety and Health. For more information about this ebook and the other ones by this author, go to: http://www.psychologyproductsandservices.comFor more information about t. Steven Griggs, Ph.d.'s top article generates over 14800 views. Bookmark Steven Griggs, Ph.d. to your Favourites.