Archive for category: Children Self Esteem

Self-esteem, or lack thereof, is a widely discussed topic in schools during the teenage years. For good reason, as poor self-esteem in both boys and girls can lead to negative consequences.

75% of girls reporting low self-esteem also report engaging in things such as drinking, smoking, and cutting. While mostly viewed as a female issue, young boys also grapple with self-worth.

Challenges to self-esteem are nearly synonymous with the adolescent experience. But there are things you can do to ensure your own children build positive self-esteem early in life to carry them through later challenges.

Eager to help your child as much as possible? Keep reading below for seven helpful tips to help grow their self-esteem.

1. Don’t Over Praise

Most parents will express that their child is “beyond their age” or “the next famous scientist.” While it’s good to praise and show endless love to our children, over-praising can lead to problems.

Self-esteem can be viewed as a mixture of feeling secure, loved, and competent. Competence requires time to develop.

If young children are always told they are the best or did the best job they could, they may lose some drive to better themselves. Essentially as they age, they may not be good at failing or learning how to improve a skill.

A helpful tip is to praise your kids as they work on something, not just the final version. Say they are doing a school poser project. Don’t wait until they finish to compliment it.

During the process make note of how hard they are working. Maybe compliment them on how they chose colors. Especially praise them if they ran into issues, but found a way to overcome.

2. Allow Risk-Taking

We aren’t talking about letting your 8-year old go sky-diving. But it is important to let your children explore and take risks so they learn to step outside their comfort zone.

Let your children make decisions for themselves and stand aside even if you know something may go wrong (within reason of course). A good example is if you see your child carrying a bunch of carrots on a flimsy plate with one hand.

Even if you see the food start to fall, don’t make a saving lunge. Let them see what happened, take steps to remedy the situation, or ask you for help.

3. Be a Role Model for Them

Children mirror what they see in parents. If you are struggling with self-esteem, it will be even more difficult to foster positive growth in your children.

Don’t feel embarrassed, you are not alone. Around 85% of Americans deal with low self-esteem at one point or another. So much so that it can greatly impact our professional lives.

Even if you don’t verbalize what is going on, kids will pick up on it. It’s been found that kids are influenced more by actions and body language than what they hear. Especially if they aren’t congruent.

This means even if you respond you’re doing well when they ask, they will pick up on your heavy sighs. They will notice when you seem sad. Do your best to show your children how to cope with stress and work through issues.

4. Provide Feedback for Positive Self-Esteem

It probably feels mean, but as alluded to above, it’s better to openly talk to kids rather than falsely inflate their ego. Providing feedback on how they are doing something, especially when they ask, can be a great thing.

Just remember not to do it in a shaming or critical way. If their room is messy, don’t yell “Why do you always leave your room a mess?”

Instead, highlight the current facts and suggest a solution. “You have clothes lying on the floor. Once you clean them up, you can go play outside.”

This type of statement is likely to spur them to actually do the clean. But it will so help them remember to keep their room tidy in the future.

5. Teach About Growth

Negative thoughts can take hold in children and guide their self-worth for years to come. It’s important to instill a growth mentality so they understand and believe they will improve and evolve over time.

Keeping children out of a fixed mindset is important. This is a mindset where they would believe they are as good as they are going to get no matter what they do. Many adults think like this regarding financial situations, fitness goals, etc.

6. Show How to Learn from Mistakes

To encourage a growth mindset, teaching your child how to learn from mistakes is key. Kids need to know it is okay to fail. They also need to know how to recover from failures.

Tell your kids to think about what they will do next time to avoid the situation they are in. For example, your kid forgot to shut a fence door and the dog escapes.

Don’t get angry. Say, “You forgot to shut the door and our dog could have been hurt. Next time double check the door when you come and go.”

7. Encourage Diverse Hobbies and Activities

One final step you can take to help your child have good self-esteem is to encourage or suggest a few hobbies. Not every child is going to excel at school.

When a child isn’t involved in another activity, they may start to think they aren’t good at anything. If they like music, offer to take them to a children’s choir. Maybe they like being active. Try finding a sport that suits them.

If they don’t seem to be interested in a specific activity, you can try these self-esteem activities. The best part is that some can be done together, with you and other family members.

Watch Your Child Blossom with Confidence

It can be scary thinking how much positive self-esteem your child will have as they grow older. The most important thing to remember is to love your child and give them the freedom and power to conquer issues in their own way.

As long as you are there to support them when they need it, everything will be okay.

Worried your child already has low self-esteem? Check out these few tips for helping them.

As they grow and experience life, young adults experience two notable drops in self-esteem. Once between the ages of 9-13 (early puberty) and again just before adulthood. As a parent, teacher, or mentor who cares about a young adult, this can be tough to watch.

But there are ways to cope, including a variety of self-esteem activities for the adolescent to practice. Self-esteem activities can be broken into two general categories: physical and emotional.

Physical activities include more than just exercise. This can be anything requiring hand-eye coordination (like tending a garden or building a value board.) Emotional activities include things like mindfulness moments and keeping a list of affirmations.

To learn more about these self-esteem activities and more, keep reading.

1. Affirmations

An affirmation is simply a positive statement about oneself or one’s own life experience. These are often read aloud in a private setting, and affirmations are proven to boost mood and confidence.

The young adult may compile a list of affirmations to be read from a list, pulled from a jar, or even stored in an app or on a cell phone. These statements may include things such as, I am worthy of good friends, or I am good enough to play team sports, or My sibling’s behavior does not impact my behavior.

2. Value Boards

Value boards are a creative way for an adolescent to build a picture that visually defines aspects of their identity: who they were, who they are, and who they want to be.

These can be done a piece of paper or in a journal. It may consist of words or images taken from magazines, books, personal letters, old journals, or even online. What matters is that the young adult feels safe to include what they believe they are, not what they want others to believe.

3. Journaling

A journal is a safe, discrete outlet to share one’s deepest thoughts and concerns. It may be beneficial for the adolescent to write about their daily stressors, including why they are struggling with self-esteem.

As the young adult journals, encourage him or her to express themes visually. For example, if they often feel left out of groups, they may draw themselves sitting outside of a circle. Framing thoughts in this way can assist the young adult with processing these thoughts and, eventually, working through them.

4. Grow a Garden

Tending a small garden can be a very inspiring, confidence-building activities for young adults. A garden is an excellent way to teach that nothing grows overnight, and that self-love requires time, attention, and healthy inputs.

As the garden begins to grow and bloom, remind the young adult that self-care does not stop with the first sign of improvement. We must all care for ourselves in different ways over the course of our lives, and none of us are perfect.

5. Practice Strengths

One of the best self-esteem activities for a young adult is to practice something he or she is good at us. Affirming these types of activities can boost confidence immediately.

For example, is the child a quick reader? Does he or she excel at baking cookies, shooting a basketball, or doing small craft projects? If so, provide the adolescent with the resources and time to do more of these things, and remind them that they have a special talent in this area.

6. Meaningful Jewelry

For some young adults, the constant reminder of self-care is important. A beaded bracelet or necklace can be a creative way to incorporate this reminder into one’s life.

Consider helping the young adult make a bracelet that has special meaning to them: perhaps each bead has a color or letter on it, like “B” for “breathe” or bright yellow for cheerfulness. These bracelets can even be made with friends or given to friends.

7. Mindfulness Moments

Mindfulness is any form of relaxed consciousness, most often practiced as meditation. It doesn’t sound like something most young adults would like, but this is one of the most important self-esteem activities that exist. In fact, plenty of kids already meditate.

Adolescents may practice mindfulness by sitting quietly in a dim room (like a bedroom or counselor’s office); listening to the birds and trees at a local park or beach, or even playing soft music while doing an easy craft project or journaling.

8. How Did You Benefit Someone Today?

By asking the young adult what they did to benefit someone else, they are forced to consider the ways they helped friends or strangers — and this can be a big self-esteem boost.

For example, did the young adult hold the door open for someone at school? Help a friend with homework? Return something to Lost & Found?

All of these demonstrate a positive impact on the adolescent’s environment, and he or she should be recognized for it.

9. Volunteer with the Less Fortunate

There’s no better way to boost confidence than turning attention outward. Consider getting the adolescent involved in volunteer activities around the community, like food kitchens or city cleanups. This is a great way to teach the lesson that even a single person can make a big difference in society.

This also gives the young adult the chance to see how fortunate he or she is. Practicing gratitude is another one of the most important self-esteem activities. This reminds young adults to focus on the many good areas of their life.

10. Get Active

Just as mental and creative activities are essential, so too is exercise. Encourage the child to get outside, play sports with friends, go for a long walk with a parent, or play in the pool. Physical activity boosts emotional and mental health, and it’s crucial to keeping body and mind in great condition.

Options for Self Esteem Activities are Endless

These are just a handful of self-esteem activities to boost morale for the young adults you care about. At Self Esteem Solutions, we offer useful guides to help just about anyone. Whether you’re experiencing low esteem, anxiety or nervousness, our guides can help you change how you perceive things.

For more ideas about self-esteem and adolescents, check out the rest of our site.