Top 6 Ways to Boost Your Child’s Self Esteem

A healthy self-image is perhaps the best gift you will ever give your child. Children raised with a positive sense of self are naturally more confident, capable and happy – which helps them grow into well-adjusted, productive adults.

Here are some simple ways to enhance your child’s self-esteem:  

1. Offer choices

Giving your child choices (within a set of options chosen by you) is very empowering. These choices can be simple (i.e. what to eat for breakfast) or more complicated (i.e. which order to do their chores in).

Regardless, if your child is presented with options from a young age, it will help them become more independent and prepared to face difficult choices as they grow up.  

2. Improve their growth mindset

You can dramatically improve your child’s viewpoint and self-esteem by developing a positive growth mindset.

While it may sound complicated, it’s as simple as changing negative words and thoughts into positive ones.

Children who have a growth mindset believe their talents and abilities can improve over time (instead of being set from birth). So, they try harder, are more focussed and driven to achieve their goals.  

3. Encourage them to do things for themselves

As a parent, it can be tempting to step in and do things for your child if they’re having trouble. It may be faster and simpler to dress your little one, for instance. However, giving them space to do this themselves helps them learn new skills and increases confidence in their abilities.  

4. Give sincere praise

Children are wired to detect insincere praise or meaningless compliments. While it’s important to increase their self-esteem through praise, ensure it is specific and focused on effort. For example, rather than saying to your child, “This drawing is amazing. You’re the greatest artist in the world,” say, “I love the detail you’ve put into this picture. I can see you’ve worked really hard on it.”  

5. Assign age-appropriate chores

From an early age, give your child some responsibilities around the house. This can range from walking the dog, to setting the table, washing the dishes, or even mowing the lawn. 

Doing chores regularly, increases your child’s competency, increases independence and demonstrates how everyone contributes to keeping a household running.  

6. Spend quality one-on-one time together

Whether it’s playing footy in the backyard, watching a movie or taking a bike ride, schedule some regular one-on-one time with each child.

This is a fantastic way to find out what’s on their mind and to cement the parent-child bond which will last a lifetime.