Activities to Build Self-esteem and Self Respect in Children

Self-concept and/or self-esteem is one of the important area that parents need to pay attention while raising a kid. Teaching our kids to value themselves and their talents can be a tricky thing to do as parents must be able to achieve a balance between allowing their kids enough independence to be able to decide for themselves and act on their own and the guidance that will keep them in the right direction. Being too lax and giving them too much freedom can lead to rebellion. At the same time extreme strictness can destroy a child’s independent spirit and give rise to much dependence.

It is desirable to start early and train your child self-esteem in life, to trust in what they can do and to embrace their individual talents and powers. Following activities can help them increase their levels of self-esteem and self-confidence.

Self-affirming statements

Talking to yourself in front of the mirror and telling yourself what a great person you are can be a bit childish for a grown-up to do but not for a child. And even if it seems childish, the practice is quite effective in boosting self-esteem and you don’t even have to stick to the mirror process. You can create your own as long as you stick to the basic, which is the repeating the self-affirming statements at appropriate times.

Create a mantra that your child can easily remember. Every morning, tell your child the mantra and have your child tell hers to you. The statements need not even be something about the self but about each other such as saying I love you in the morning or telling each other how great the other is. There is really no exact way to do this. You can create your own variations as long as the essence of affirming oneself is there and easy to follow.

The positive trait game to teach Positive Thoughts

Another activity that you can do with your child that will not only boost self-esteem but also help in building vocabulary is the positive-trait game. In this game, you will tell each other the positive traits that one sees in the other. The catch is that the trait should start in a specific letter of the alphabet. This game is a wonderful way to teach kids think positive thoughts and to acknowledge the traits and talents that make them unique. This is also a great way to make sure that he or she will grow up knowing where his or her strengths lie most

Allow them to do activities that they love

Encourage them to try out new things so that they will discover their talents and abilities. Enrolling them in different summer classes and be open to all kinds of things works wonders. For instance, if he is good with drawing and crayons, it does not mean that he will not be good in music. So don’t discount music lessons as part of his summer curriculum. He can try both.

When children are enjoying what they are doing, they become very enthusiastic and they are open to developing their skills further. Anyhow, if he does not like it, at least he has learned something new. Helping them discover the things that they love to do and the things that they are good at is a great way to boost their self esteem and self-confidence in early stage.

Keywords: self esteem development, self respect development, personal development

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