10 Ways to Improve Your Child’s Self Worth
From modeling behavior to giving consistent praise, reinforcement AND constructive strength building, instilling a sense of self-worth in children takes work and time. You can do it! And it's 100% worth it! Here are some tips from our Nurturing Parenting Program to help you put some actions and routined behavior into place to instill confidence and self-worth in all children!
1) Put your child in situations where they can succeed at doing things they are capable of.
2) Expect children to succeed in small situations. If we expect children to succeed ALL the time in ALL situations, you will be disappointed as it is not realistic.
3) If your child does not succeed at the specific situation, problem solve and determine what is undermining the child’s attempts at success.
4) Every time you see your child behaving in a desired way, write it down. Try to remember other times in the past when you have noticed a desired behavior and then you can have a list or a “story” of successes. You can either read this to your child when they are feeling down, or use it as a bedtime power story so your child can go to sleep with this new and successful picture of themselves in their mind
5) Share with someone else your child’s strengths and successes and make certain your child can hear you.
6) Act in the way you want your child to act and then praise yourself for acting that way.
7) Visualize your child as already behaving the way you’d like, and then relate to your child as already having that new behavior.
8) Show respect for your child’s feelings and opinions even though you might not agree with them. Honor your child’s opinions by saying, “I can understand why you might feel this way.” Your child’s feelings and opinions are a part of them as much as your feelings and opinions are a part of you.
9) Make sure to give children comments on their strengths, as well as their weaknesses. Often, we are so intent on helping children get rid of all the negative qualities that we neglect to comment on all the positive ones we see. Try to have five to ten times the number of comments which focus on strengths than on weaknesses.
10) Be patient. Change is an evolutionary process, not a revolutionary one. It takes time to change. Stay focused and above all, be consistent.