Self Confidence And Children
Seeing a child with low self esteem or low self confidence can be very depressing. Children are influenced greatly by the environment that they live in everyday. Children do not really have a personal identity yet, so often times whatever people tell them about themselves they tend to believe.
If your child has low self confidence try to figure out all the possible sources of this influence in their lives. School work, friends, family, relatives, can all exert a negative influence on a child and lead them to think very poorly about themselves.
Children often over generalize as well. If they feel bad about themselves in regard to school work, they will often think they will also perform poorly at other activities.
To turn things around, try to teach them to do activities in which they can be great at. This could be anything from paining, playing the piano, sports, dancing, etc.
Since children do over generalize, it is hoped that because they gain confidence in one area, it will spill into other areas, which is often the case.
In severe cases, a therapist should be consulted, but in most cases it is not necessary.
If at all possible, of course try to eliminate or minimize the child’s contact with negative influences, either family or friends.
If it is school work that is the problem, then try to find a tutor, or try to communicate with the teacher more, to see how you can help at home with school work.
It is always heart breaking to see a child with low self confidence, but I urge you to start taking steps today to help them.
Often just by addressing the problem, the problem will seem smaller and more manageable.
I hope this post will encourage you. Remember as a parent you hold the largest influence over your child, so use it in a positive manner.
