6 Tips for Raising Confident Children

6 Tips for Raising Confident Children

We feel more prepared for life’s experiences when we are confident. Confidence means feeling sure of yourself and your abilities in a realistic and certain way.  It stems from a quiet inner voice that tells you you’re capable. Their mindset has an “I can” mentality instead of “I can’t”. They will likely want to explore new things or reach out to new people.

It’s the exact opposite for people with low confidence. They are less likely to explore new things and hold a negative mindset towards everything they do. They feel insecure and tend to keep to themselves and doubt the good things people say about them.

A lack of confidence can hold you back from reaching your full potential.

As parents, confidence is one of the greatest gifts a parent can give their child. It helps them feel better about themselves and prepares them for future success.

 Here are 6 tips for raising confident children:

1. Celebrate their efforts no matter what

Children must be willing to put in effort in the face of fresh challenges. The last decision you want your kids to make is to give up when they are trying something new or when something doesn’t go as planned on the first try. Regardless of how simple the tasks may seem to you as an adult, it would help if you let them know that you appreciate their effort and are proud of them for making an effort.

It takes much hard work to develop new skills, and the fact that your children are willing to put in the effort and go through the process is something that deserves applause regardless of the outcome. Remember, it’s the willingness to put in the effort that’s important here.

2. Encourage perseverance

As parents, we know how challenging and uncommon it is to get something right the first time. We must ensure our kids understand this as early as possible and are motivated to keep trying. A meaningful life skill is learning not to give up at the first sign of difficulty or to stop working after a few failures.

Being confident as a child shouldn’t imply that they must always succeed; instead, they should recognise that failure is expected, are resilient, and continue to work toward their goals despite the possibility that they will fail again.

3. Show respect to everyone

Children pick up your behaviours and actions, especially in public when they are still figuring out how to act in the public’s eye. They’ll treat people as you do, so be kind and respectful.

When you show respect to others, regardless of income, race, social status, or body size, your children will learn to do the same.

Put aside stigmas or social prejudice and model the behaviour you want to see in your children. Make it clear to them that demonstrating character matters more than looks or popularity. Your children will gain the life-long knowledge that self-worth is not based on external factors. When they learn to respect others, they subconsciously learn to respect themselves more.

4. Become a more confident person yourself

Since your children are always observing you, let them see that you’re confident in your abilities, and they will pick up your behaviours subconsciously before forming their own.

Display positive Self-Talk. If your children can see and hear you tell yourself things like “I can’t do this” or statements like “I’ll fail at it anyway.”, they’ll start to adopt this mindset and pick up these negative behaviours from you. This is why it’s vital to value positive self-talk.

Display positive Self-Talk. If your children can see and hear you tell yourself things like “I can’t do this” or statements like “I’ll fail at it anyway.”, they’ll start to adopt this mindset and pick up these negative behaviours from you. This is why it’s vital to value positive self-talk.

That’s perfectly okay. There’s no need to put on a perfect façade. Let your children know that you’re a bit afraid. Then, let them see you face those fears head-on.

5. Allow failure

Most children don’t want to disappoint their parents or teachers. Deep down, they want approval from their peers and, most of all, from you, as their parents. When children believe they’re continually disappointing the people they love and respect, their self-esteem suffers, and they lose confidence.

When your child fails at something, such as getting bad grades for tests or not being able to put on their shoes, acknowledge their disappointment. You can’t protect your children from discouragement and the sense of failure they would feel sometimes, but you can show them that it’s natural to have bad days. Let them know there is nothing wrong with feeling sad and help them process their feelings.

Once they can better process their feelings and thoughts, they become mentally stronger and more resilient as individuals.

6. Help your child find their passion

If your child loves activities such as colouring or drawing, they may have taken on an interest in art. What may seem like a waste of time or have no academic importance to their lives may be an important activity to your children. Every human needs personal space, including their children, but they also need help and encouragement to pursue their passions.

The easiest way to do this is to show an interest in their hobbies. Perhaps even trying out a few yourself. Your children will understand that you love them because they are your children and not because they have good grades or do house chores and that your love for them is unconditional. You may find your child introducing you to their hobbies and interests over time once they believe that you are supportive of whatever they pursue.

Happiness is when you realise your children have turned out to be good people.

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