There’s more giving your child confidence than just telling them how great you think they are and how much you love them. If only it was that simple, hey? But actually overpraising your child can do more harm than good so it’s important to get a good balance of what you are doing to instill the confidence in your child that they need and here’s how you can do just that.
Appreciate effort
Remember that the journey is more important than the destination, so it really is the taking part that counts, not the winning or losing. Show your child how proud you are of them playing in the football match whether they scored the winning goal or let the losing one in.
Don’t focus on looks.
Although it can be difficult not to tell your children how beautiful and gorgeous they are, confident people and children are those who aren’t seeking approval for their looks. However, if your child does suffer bullying from a medical problem, then it’s often best to get this fixed. Not for the sake of the bullies but for your child’s health. It could be getting their ears pinned back or getting in touch with Dr Alex Rabinovich, an Oral Surgeon specializing in dental implants, corrective jaw surgery and facial reconstruction. He even participates in medical missions abroad to perform free reconstructive surgery for children in need.
Encourage practice
Encourage your children to practice whatever it is that they are interested in. However, you need to do this without putting too much pressure on them. It needs to be fun; they need to enjoy what they’re doing and get excited about it, so don’t make practice a negative thing.
Let them figure out problems by themselves.
If you always solve the problem for your child, then they will never develop the abilities or the confidence to do it on their own
Encourage curiosity
Sometimes children asking a load of questions can be very annoying. However, it should be encouraged as this massively helps when they start school as they know how to learn, and they do it better and faster than the children who weren’t encouraged to ask questions.
Don’t make it easy
Don’t make shortcuts or exceptions for your child as this can actually give them a lack of confidence as they think they’ll be entitled to special treatment.
Don’t criticize their performance.
If you criticize your child’s efforts, then you will discourage them. It’s good to give feedback and to make suggestions but never tell them they’re doing a bad job. You child should not be scared to fail, or they’ll never have the confidence to try.
Open the door to new experiences.
Expose your children to new things so that they get the chance to have new experiences and realize that no matter how scary and different something might seem, they can do it. Then applaud their courage to try something new.
Don’t over-praise
Praising too much actually does more harm than good because self-esteem comes from feeling loved and secure. By over-praising kids, you’re lowering the bar for them, and they will no longer push themselves.
Let kids make their own choices.
This makes children feel more powerful. It only applies to age-appropriate choices such as what they want to wear or if they need to wear a hat or gloves.
