Help Your Child Develop A Positive Self-image – Parenthood
Each of our children is the most beautiful, the most intelligent, the most capable… These affirmations are small nudges to give confidence and love to our baby. It is important for parents that their child grows up knowing that he will be able to succeed in whatever he sets out to do, because he is very valuable.
But all these attitudes bet on a larger process that accompanies our children for many years: the making of their own image.
The construction of the image
The personal image is built with what we see and observe, to which is added the reflection that others send back to us of ourselves. That is to say, the child himself and his entourage are in charge of sending him information so that he himself can shape the conception he has of himself.
- Your children will grow up happier
- They will develop their own abilities
- Their self-confidence will be increased
- They will be able to face their successes as well as their failures
- Once adults, they will have a greater ability to trust others as in themselves.
Although you think you are helping your child in this way, by saying words of encouragement to them, here we give you some tips that may be of help to you in this endeavor.
Some ways to help shape a positive image
- Think about your son or daughter. Think about his characteristics, what makes him or her unique and so special. No one in the world is like your child. Recognize his value as a unique being.
- Be realistic. With him (or she) conne with yourself. It’s not about lying to him. Trust is very important. It is about helping him to be able to see who he really is and what he is really capable of doing.
- Focus your attention on its strengths. Everyone has them. Why only see the weaknesses? The abilities that we have are those that we develop throughout our life.
- Give him your love unconditionally. Your child deserves to be loved as he is. When children perceive that the love they receive is conditional, they carry that feeling into adulthood and into all their subsequent relationships.
- Develop their critical thinking skills. Help him solve his problems, without judging the time he needs for it. Give them all the support and guidance they need to find solutions. But giving them the ready-made answers will make him feel insecure and in the future he won’t feel able to deal with their problems on his own.
- Recognize their successes. It will be a powerful encouragement for your child to see the reactions to their successes in you. Remember to let him know.
- Respect it. To be a child is also to be a full person. Respect their opinions, take an interest in their priorities and their ways of thinking, and show them that they are valued. You may not agree with them, but their opinion matters.
- Listen to him. Teach him that he has the right to express himself and to be listened to. This will help him greatly when he has to express his opinion in a new and different environment.
Ultimately, loving him by valuing and respecting him will strengthen his self-esteem and allow him to develop sufficient self-confidence to know that he can get what is offered to him. He will thus know that he is able like any other to achieve things and that, although he does not realize it most of the time, he has qualities that make him unique.
