How to Build Your Child’s Self-confidence

Self-confidence is the ultimate power. It gives courage to ‘see off’ difficult times and the strength to achieve success. Everyone needs it, including your children.So what is self- confidence?a) Doing what you believe to be right, even if others mock or criticize you for it.b) Being willing to take risks and go the extra mile to achieve better things.c) Admitting your mistakes and vowing to learn from them.d) Waiting for others to congratulate you on your accomplishments.e) Accepting compliments graciously. Help your children develop this power. Here are 7 ways to build your children’s self-confidence.1.Praise Their Good Work and AchievementsSTART TODAY, find something to praise your children regularly. Like...- “My, you learn so fast.”- “Your handwriting is good.”Your encouraging words program your children to do more and more good things, without shouting. When you are praising your children,make sure that you do it at the right time. The right time to praise is immediately after your children have done some good work or have behaved properly. If you find it difficult to praise all the time, then look into your children’s eyes and smile happily when they do their work right. This will convey the message.2. Make them RESPONSIBLE for their actions and lifeEncourage your children to do some household work depending on their age like—cleaning their room, hanging their clothes neatly, setting tables, watering plants,making their own beds, etc. If your children are older, you can ask them to help incooking and washing dishes. Praise their effort, ignore their faults! Even young children can be assigned the task to keep their toys back in their place. Doing work around the house gives children a sense of responsibility, teaches the habit of finishing the work they start, and helps them to develop self-esteem.3. Teach your children to be kind and helpfulBe kind to them! Smile at them more frequently. Laugh together by making routine things funny. Encourage your children to help others whenever possible, like their classmates and friends.Ask them to share things with their siblings. Helping others instills good human values and increases the feeling of self-worth in children.The fastest way to teach your children these qualities is to practice them yourself with other people—4. Turn Mistakes Into Opportunities for ImprovementWhen your children make mistakes, focus on improvement. Not on their mistakes or faults. For example, if your children come home with poor report card, instead of shouting how dull they are, help them to analyze where they lost their marks or points. Encourage and guide them to study that subject more until their score improves. Similarly if they don’t do any work properly, focus on teaching them the correct techniques of doing that work, instead of berating how stupid they are.5. Don’t Complain to Your NeighborMany parents criticize or complain about their children in front of other people, that too right in presence of their children.“She does not read at all. I have to tell her so many times.”“He is poor in math. He always scores less in it.”Can you imagine how children feel when their parents do this? It is plainly embarrassing, even humiliating. Frankly it does nothing to improve children’s performance. It only lowers their confidence, apart from making them angry at you. Hence it is a good idea to keep a check on what you say when you speak about your children with others.If you really want to talk about your children with neighbors or other people, thentalk about their good qualities. Discuss their good performance, Your positive remark, that too in front of other people, will not only increase your children’s confidence, but will also satisfy their need for approval. Happy children are more inclined to listen to your instructions. And are more willing to improve on their weaknesses and behaviour.6. Support Their InterestEncourage and support your children’s good hobbies and dreams. Like, if your son loves to paint, encourage him to paint, whenever he gets free time. If your daughter loves bird watching, get her a binocular to watch birds closely. This will not only help to build your children’s self-confidence but will also increase their creativity. And who knows, your children might carve a successful career for themselves out of their hobbies and interest. 7. Avoid PamperingAvoid pampering and spoiling your children with too much love. Try not to overprotect them. Otherwise children may become emotionally weak and dependent on you. Aim to strengthen your children’s self-confidence without overdoing it.