5 Tips on Building Healthy Self-esteem in Children
Self-esteem is your all-encompassing sense of worth and value. It is important to build healthy self-esteem in children as this factor will decide how they feel about themselves in the future.
You can notice whether your child has healthy self-esteem or needs support by looking at the points given below:
Children with healthy self-esteem have
- confidence to speak up their heart
- confidence to try out new things
- excitement to learn more
- don’t feel threatened when fellow friends perform well
- praise others with a feeling of joy
- handle failures gently
On the other hand, children with low self-esteem-
- doubt their capabilities
- compare themselves with others
- cannot appreciate even if they win
- hard time appreciating fellow mates
- difficulty coping with failure
How does self-esteem develop?
The development of this faculty of self-worth and self-esteem can start as early as infancy. Although it is hard for us to understand how this works one thing is certain that children observe their surroundings, they observe how people behave and talk. They catch the energy vibrations from their surroundings.
When in babyhood, children need a lot of care and love. They find ways to grab the attention of their loved ones. And as caregivers, it is our duty to provide this constant attention to them at this early stage of development.
As babies start growing, they learn new skills each day. And the parent’s attention and appreciation act as an energy booster for the kids.
These little doses of affirmation, support, and appreciation along with family values and surrounding environment play a role in determining whether the child will have healthy self-esteem or not.
How parents can help to inculcate healthy self-esteem in children-
Encourage your child to try new things
We know that sometimes children are hesitant to try the seemingly smallest things like- climbing the stairs of the slide. Although it looks easy to us, the same task can be huge for them. 
So it’s your duty to assist them and assure them that they will be okay. You have to be by their side when they try new things.
All the things from dressing up, reading, or riding a bicycle can add up to building healthy self-esteem in children.
Demonstrate what you preach
Children learn quicker when you demonstrate with your actions. If you are wondering why your child is not listening to you, why is he/she not showing interest to try out new things? It may be because he/she is looking up to you. So if you want them to behave in a certain way it is better to demonstrate through your actions first.
When your children see that mommy/daddy is trying out new things and enjoying them, then the children will be willing to do the same.
Praise character traits
It is better to praise mannerisms, attributes or habits in front of your children rather than looks. If you constantly praise your child only for their looks, they may think that their worth comes from their looks. Similarly, if you compare your child and tell them that they(or any of their body parts) don’t look as good as others, then they may lose their confidence.
So it is very important to watch out for all your actions and words so that you don’t scar your child’s self-esteem.
Focus on positives
Pay attention to activities your children perform well and appreciate when they put in an effort. Allow room for mistakes. Focus more on strengths and positive attributes rather than weaknesses as this will help to build healthy self-esteem in children.
Make use of positive and affirmative sentences when your child fails to perform a certain task. For example- “You gave your best and I appreciate you for that”. “You participated in the rock climbing activity even though you were hesitant at first and that is really great!”
Limit the influence of social media
Parents all around the world post videos, reels that show children doing difficult things with ease and perfection. It seems like the number of child prodigies has instantly grown ten folds! 
Although it feels good to share and watch the achievement stories of children, this also creates pressure on the young children. And if the parents aren’t alert the children might start comparing themselves with the people on the screen and set unreasonable demands and expectations.
To put pressure on young children to perform beyond their capacity isn’t fair. And if this pressure builds the children will eventually lose their sense of self-esteem. It is imperative for the parents to know that there there is a big difference between the reel and the real world.
Are you finding it hard to engage effectively with your child? Talk to our expert for support.
