One of the main issues that parents must deal with when raising a kid is their self-concept and self-esteem. 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 path.
Being too lax and giving them too much freedom can lead to rebellion while being too strict can destroy a child’s independent spirit and foster too much dependence.
Although self-esteem can be developed anytime in a person’s life, it is good to start early and train your child to trust in what they can do and to embrace their individual talents. Below are some activities that you can do with your child that can help them increase their levels of self-esteem.
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 our 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 saying of self-affirming statements.
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.
The positive trait game
Another activity that you can do with your child that will not only boost her self-esteem but also help in building his or her vocabulary is the positive trait game. In this game, you wll each 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.
The positive trait game is a wonderful way to teach your kid to think positive thoughts and to acknowledge the traits and talents that make him or her unique. This is also a great way to make sure that he or she will grow up knowing where his or her strengths lie.
Do activities that they love
Encourage them to try out new things so that they will discover their talents and abilities. Enroll them in different summer classes and be open to all kinds of things. 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.
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 early on. After all, when children are enjoying what they are doing, they become very enthusiastic and they are open to developing their skills further.