Self-esteem is one of the main traits of any successful and self-sufficient person. As a parent, you can do a lot to help your kid build confidence. After all, by helping your child to really believe in himself, you will make sure he doesn’t lose lots of opportunities because of his shyness, lack of self-confidence or low self-esteem.

Healthy confidence and self-esteem are especially important in younger schoolkids. According to studies, kids who learn to live in harmony with themselves make much better progress at school.

Tips to to help you build your kid’s confidence

Provide a sense of belonging

Kids of younger school age start building their own self-esteem on how others see them. They know quite well what differs them from other kids. So by teaching your child some correct ways of interacting and playing with others, you will help him improve his confidence. The way adults treat a child is just as important. If you show respect to this little person, listen to him attentively and show him that you treat his needs as important ones, your kid will feel loved and appreciated.

Be your kid’s role mode

Parents who respect themselves and have healthy self-esteem naturally help their child build his own self-confidence. If you are comfortable with who and what you are, the chances are your child will believe in himself as well. Kids are great imitators, so when they see that their parents show confidence, they will learn how to do it themselves.

Let your child know that anyone makes mistakes, even you. Kids of this age have great interest for trying and learning something new, so it is very important for them not to get discouraged by something they may do wrong. Treat your own mistakes with humor; make your child understand that mistakes can be fixed. This ability to learn from his own mistakes on his way to achieving some new skills or getting some new knowledge will give a great boost to your child’s self-esteem.

Encourage the “I can and I will” approach

When your kid works diligently on something and reaches success, praise him. Don’t wait for him to reach his ultimate goal; celebrate every successful step on his way there. It would also help to do the following:

– as soon as your child reaches some new goal, set another task for him, offering to reach another goal to enhance some skills he already has;

– let this task be not too complicated and difficult but let him spare some effort while accomplishing it;

– let your kid know that there’s a lot he can do because he successfully deals with the new challenges.

Even the smallest victories will make your kid’s confidence grow stronger.

Define your kid’s strengths

Be careful when comparing your child to other kids. In case your child shows the desire to be like some other kid, let him know that while others have some useful skills, he has ones of his own. Make him pay attention to what he can do, to what he is really good at. Never forget to mention that every person has his own talents and every person is unique in his own way.

Develop your kid’s talents

One of the ways to boost self-confidence is helping your kid fill his time with some productive activities. It’s also very important to encourage him to play with other children and to find a type of activity that really inspires him and makes him feel alive.

Here are some tips that will help develop your child’s skills and talents:

– provide him with all kinds of colored pencils, markers and paper, give him drawing crayons and watercolors;

– if your kid likes physical exercise, spend some time together playing sports;

– let your kid listen to some nice music and buy him some musical instruments he would like to learn to play.

Always focus on the quality time you spend together playing or listening to music or drawing, but not on some achievements in this area or another. The process is always much more important than the final result. Your child’s main goal is to feel the joy of it and gain some confidence, but not to become a little genius.

Self-esteem and play

As play activity still remains the main one for your child at this age, it is yet another great way to help him build confidence. Support your kid’s play activity and get involved in it. Show you trust your child’s organizational skills and share his intentions by letting him set the rules on his own. This way your kid will get an opportunity to hone his leadership skills and make sure that you enjoy spending time with him.

Any games that concern making his own choice will build your kid’s confidence. What kind of toy would he like to choose for a particular purpose? What would he like to wear, a blue coat or a brown jacket? What would he like for lunch, a cheese sandwich or some salad? While making his choice, your child learns to be independent, responsible for his decision, develops the ability to listen and to speak his own opinion — and, as a result, build his self-esteem.

Help your kid to create a “treasure box” or a pin board of his own for collecting things he really likes. A personal collection of “treasures” will be your kid’s own achievement, something he can be really proud of.

As a parent, you can help your child to love and accept all his skills and particular qualities so that he could get the sense of personal integrity and really connect to what he really is and to his environment. After all, these two aspects are very important for creating the basis of your child’s self-esteem. It’s one of the most precious gifts you can give to your child.

If you have more advice on how to improve a kid’s self-esteem, we are looking forward to your ideas in our comment section!