Building Child's Self-Esteem-The importance & Activities-
By : Putu Desy Krisma Yani
Self-esteem is liking yourself, feeling worthwhile, believing in yourself and knowing what you do well.
Self-esteem gives children confidence to:
· try new things and try again when things don’t go as planned
· do things that they might not enjoy or normally be good at
· face challenges rather than avoid them.
Self-esteem helps children cope with mistakes. When children try new things, face challenges and bounce back, they learn and grow. As a result, self-esteem help them to do better at school, at home, and with friends. This is why self-esteem can be an important part of child development.
How Self - Esteem Develops
As children grow, self-esteem can grow too. Any time children try things, do things, and learn things can be a chance for self-esteem to grow. This can happen when children:
· make progress toward a goal
· learn things at school
· make friends and get along
· learn skills — music, sports, art, cooking, tech skills
· practice favorite activities
· help, give, or be kind
· get praise for good behaviors
· try hard at something
· do things they're good at and enjoy
· are included by others
· feel understood and accepted
· get a prize or a good grade they know they've earned
When children have self-esteem, they feel confident, capable and accepted for who they are.
7 Self-Esteem Activities to Try at Home
1. Packing for a Trip
Focus Skill: Independence
Instill confidence in your child by encouraging them to practice independence. Before you go on your next family trip, ask your child to pack their own suitcase. Once they’re packed, check the suitcase and prompt them to think about items they missed. Instead of saying, “You forgot your hiking shoes,” say, “Do you have everything you need for hiking the trail?”
2. Invent a Recipe
Focus Skill: Learning from Mistakes
Help your child see mistakes as learning opportunities, not failures. Gently encourage mistake-making by asking your child to invent their own pancake recipe. Have them write down an ingredient list and quantities of each item. Supervise the process so nothing dangerous is ingested, but do not interfere. Even if your child adds something unusual to the recipe (like goat cheese or garbanzo beans!), let them experiment. After cooking a test batch of pancakes, ask, “What could you have done differently?” Then, allow your child to modify the recipe and try again.
3. Make Slime!
Focus Skill: Teaching Others
Children can build self-assuredness and develop confidence by demonstrating newly-learned skills when interacting with others. Give your child a chance to impress their friends and have fun by teaching them to build “slime” (a gooey substance that can be stretched or molded). Start by giving your child a recipe for “slime” and have them follow directions without your help. Once your child has concocted their slime, ask them to explain the process to you. Then, invite friends over! Have your child demonstrate the slime-making process before everyone tries it for themselves.
4. Chores with Purposes
Focus Skill: Confidence
Taking on a consistent chore can be a huge responsibility. In order to promote your child’s confidence in their ability to care for their environment, have them pick out a special chore. They could be in charge of watering the plants, walking the dog, or sweeping the floor. Compliment them for good, consistent behavior with specific praises such as, “The plants look nice and healthy because you’ve been watering them regularly” or “Thank you for walking the dog every day. I know he enjoys it!”
5. Float Your Boat
Focus Skill: Problem-Solving
Problem-solving is one of the best self-esteem activities. Give your child an open-ended challenge and let them brainstorm ways to create solutions. One great exercise is to give your kid several items from the recycling bin—milk jugs, cans, cardboard, glass jars—and ch
allenge them to build a boat. Provide tape, glue, string…and nothing else! Let them experiment with different ways to put together their boat. Then test their creation in a lake or pond. This is also an excellent group activity.
6. Serve a Snack
Focus Skill: Multi-Step Planning
Develop your child’s confidence in their cognitive skills by giving them a multi-step challenge. Ask them to plan, prepare and serve a snack (or a lunch, for older children). This task forces your little one to think about many different things at once: what to serve, how to prepare the food, how to set the table, etc. This activity encourages multi-step planning and gives them the confidence that they can solve an open-ended challenge.
7. Play simple board or card games together.
Focus Skill: Socializing
Turn-taking games like these help your child learn how to play cooperatively and get along with others. This activity can give your child skills and confidence in social situations.
When your child believes in their abil
ity to overcome mistakes and accomplish tasks all on their own, they will feel empowered to take on challenges in school and in life. While there is no magic key to unlock every child’s inner-confidence, these activities will give you a good starting point. The key to help your child trusting in their abilities is looking for opportunities to challenge them and then let them seek solutions on their own.
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