6 Ways to Encourage Your Child
Confidence is such a common thing that so many children struggle with. Whether it is sports, image, or academics your kid thrives off of self esteem and confidence. When they are doing and accomplishing the things that they love they feel good which shows. Self esteem is such a vital foundation for your kids to learn and grow.
Confidence is key to self esteem. They just go hand in hand. Plain and simple.
For years, my oldest struggled with confidence. To help him, services such as therapy might be deemed necessary. Bouncing back and forth about his abilities to be good at something, especially school work. He struggles with comprehension so tests and even difficult homework used to be a struggle. There is nothing worse as a mom than hearing your child beat themselves up over something you know they can conquer. I saw in him a level of anxiety, frustration, and he slowly regressed in his abilities to problem solve because he felt failure.
This had me worried. After all self esteem is the foundation for battling the woes of the great big world we live in. It affects friendships, relationships, problem solving, and even self worth. With low self esteem kids are easily influenced and no mom wants that. He thought forever that he would always be an epic failure in language arts. According to him he could not write good, read good, or even think about grammar like everyone else.
My son has such a deep passion for sports. This kid could play anything and be phenomenal. He is just naturally talented and athletic. Entering middle school this past year was a bittersweet moment. A step outside of elementary school but a step toward his maturity. Once he realized that good grades affected his participation in sports he quickly became motivated to do better. There was no way he was letting his setbacks affect what he loved the most. This was a time for solution and he paved the way all his own.
Focus on solutions and not setbacks. For kids setbacks may seem like the end of the world when they are really not. It is a learning curve and they can and will get through it. In our eyes our kids are perfect and special creatures and there is no way anyone can convince us otherwise. However, they may not always succeed. Having an understanding and promoting them through effort rather than success let’s them know these setbacks are minor.
We are their biggest fan and showing them that is all the more a testament of building a stronger self worth in our children. So be optimistic, persistent, and address failures lightly.
6 Ways to Encourage Your Child
1. Show your enthusiasm for the things they are interested in. If your kiddo is really motivated to try a new sport or even peaking their interest in some funky science experiments then make sure you are being supportive Their confidence is sure to be boosted with a little motivation from om and dad.
2. Be mindful of what you say. You must praise the efforts of your child and their completion of a project. Sometimes the outcome will not be a success, however it is important to relay to them positivity for a good job and your appreciation for trying.
3. Set a good example. If you are constantly beating yourself up about things they are going to absorb that as well. Nurture your own self esteem as well as theirs and they can grow from that.
4. Show affection. Kids love to be hugged. Let them know you care when they do something you know was difficult. Tell them you are proud while also showing affection. This really makes a huge difference for kids.
5. Avoid criticism. If you are critical toward their failures or feed their disappointment with negativity they will be more apt to continue feeling bad about themselves and their accomplishments.
6. Set them apart from their critical perspectives. Kids will generally convince themselves that they are not good at something and then that contributes to a total downfall in their individual abilities all together. Encourage through objective rather than labeling.
Encouraging your children is yet another wonderful way those nurturing tendencies kick in!
How are you encouraging your child? Share your best advice!