For many young children growing up life can be very overwhelming and sometimes depressing without a balanced and healthy sense of self-esteem from an early age.
Self-esteem is invaluable to a childs over all happiness and wellbeing. It's a need and a must, otherwise a child will feel very insecure within them self. Having low self-esteem is setting the stage for potential emotional problems in later teen and adult life.
Having a positive upbringing and having a good foundation from an early age from both parent/s and other contributing adult family members as well as teachers and family friends can play a huge role in building self-worth. children should feel good about themselves, feel loved and wanted, accepted and valued by the adults and people who they feel are important to them.
The importance of building self-esteem cannot be over stressed. Confident little children are more likely to succeed in many areas of life as they mature and grow up. A child with low self-esteem and un-confident will always battle with many difficulties, feelings of inadequacy, slow to achieve and stay focused on a goal or goals in life and feel that they fail in everything they attempt to do and have a "I can't do" mentality leading them potentially to have a very bleak and negative out-look on everything in life. Thus feeling a failure.
Children with a healthy sense of self-esteem are more likely to feel secure and feel that the important parent/s, adults and people in their life accept and care deeply about them. They feel wanted and sense that they would be dearly missed if they we're not around and would be missed if they we're separated or away. Children with low self-esteem, on the other hand, often feel unwanted, unloved, feel they are in the way all the time and hear the all too familiar words, "can't you find something to do," "go out and play," "I can't wait for you to go back to school." Not feeling accepted, unwanted and not cared about can haunt a child with low self-esteem.
During a childs early years, little children's self-esteem is mostly based on perceptions of how the important people in their lives judge them for the good or the bad. When a child is readily received in a loving manner, given time, and patience, and made to feel accepted and wanted around by the one's they look up to who mean the most to them children learn to establish trust and a sense of being cared for, valued and greatly loved which satisfies their basic need.
Children acquire self-esteem as time goes by as they grow from an early tender age, sometimes they don't always feel confident in every situation. They may feel confident at home but not at school. As children interact with other kids and learn to function in school sometimes they experience one minute being excepted and liked and another time they may experience being rejected and un-liked. In those challenging instances you can help by reassuring them of your love and support. Good self-esteem can be cultivated by parent/s or other adults who are important to them most. To esteem a child means to treat them with respect, asking them their opinions and taking their thoughts seriously and giving them meaningful and kind feedback.
A child will most likely have a good sense of self-worth when responded to with keen interest and efforts and with high opinion rather than just commending. Responding positively by taking their interests seriously like reading with them or doing gardening with them will nurture and boost their self-esteem.
Children greatly benefit from being given tasks and activities, responsibilities that make them feel special, needed and wanted that challenge their minds rather than just being left to their own devices to occupy themselves.
You can help children develop healthy self-esteem by helping them, directing and guiding them how to cope with their defeats by showing them how much you still love them as well as success. It's important sometimes to tell them that not everyone is good at everything they try. Teaching children to work past their disappointments can help them not to give up whatever is thrown at them.
As a parent or an important adult you can really help to build self-worth in a child's life now and for the future by how well you interact, value and care for them by helping them to learn to value themselves which will build that important self-esteem.