How can we enhance our children’s ability to believe in themselves?

14 Jan How can we enhance our children’s ability to believe in themselves?

The confidence of children themselves will help them cope with complicated situations in the future without fear. The environment at home and genetics shape the way of being our children. Genes are unchangeable structures, but aspects related to the environment do depend to a great extent on us, parents, especially in the first years of children’s lives.

The basis of all parental influence is related to good eating and sleeping habits, but our work as parents goes further. Adequate development of their capacities will make our children grow up with adequate physical and mental health.

For example, children whose parents share their feelings are more likely to develop ideal emotional intelligence and will better understand their own and others’ feelings. On the other hand, shy children who live in a home where they are encouraged to develop a sense of courage tend to lose their behavioral inhibition, unlike those who are overprotected who may not overcome this difficulty in relating to children. others. Shyness is closely related to children’s lack of confidence, and as we all know, interacting with others naturally facilitates our relationship with the world.

What can parents do to improve children’s self-confidence?

1. Accept them unconditionally

That is, loving and supporting our son, whatever he may be. We all imagine how our child will be before holding him for the first time, we fantasize about the idea of ​​an ideal child who fulfills all our dreams. But the reality is that he is a person and that as such it will not be a dream, if not a reality. Let us accept him as he is.

2. Support them in their difficulties

Support is another of the values ​​that will help improve children’s confidence and overcome their talents and difficulties. We must accompany them to facilitate the development of the former and progress in the latter, using the appropriate resources to manage the most difficult situations. We have to trust in its possibilities. You go as far as you think you can go, and that belief is largely instilled by parents.

3. Let’s not label them

Let’s not emphasize the characteristics that make you stand out in a negative way. If our son has a problem with his gross motor skills, and it is difficult for him to keep up with the others in Physical Education, for example, let’s not mark him as “clumsy”. It will be a title that you will carry for life and that will make you behave as such by following the law of self-fulfilling prophecy. In addition, it will make you feel uncomfortable with that aspect of your development, which on the other hand is modifiable, unlike nicknames that last forever.

4. Cultivate a sense of courage

To improve the confidence of children, parents have to offer the possibility to our children to discover the world with our support. This does not mean that we insensibly throw them into harrowing experiences without offering them our hand for support.

5. Set an example

We are not talking about being the most “launched” parents in school, but we are talking about showing our children how we face the world overcoming our own difficulties. Talking to them and doing with them. Trusting them with our own fears and our way of solving situations that make us feel ashamed. Because the important thing is not to be the perfect father, the important thing is to trust them with our vulnerability and, at the same time, our courage when facing situations that we would “ask” ourselves to avoid.

New studies in the field of neuronal neuroplasticity support the approach that parents can shape the growth of our children’s brains, and therefore their overall development. Therefore, if as parents we want to help our children to face the world in the most appropriate way possible, the experiences that we offer them from their childhood have to be in accordance with this idea. Encouraging them to face life without fear is an important first step.