Believe In Your Child, Believe In Yourself as a Parent
There is a saying – “Behind every young child who believes in him/herself is a parent who believed first”.
Children are likely to live up to what we believe of them. Our voice as parents, tend to become their inner voice someday. So we need to be very careful about our parenting approach and our choice of words while talking to them. After all we want to raise independent kids who are able to make choices, stand up for themselves, and move forward as confident, happy people.
When we teach children to believe in themselves and their abilities, the outcomes are amazing. Kids work harder and stick longer with problems that are difficult.
Believe in Your Child, Believe in Yourself as a Parent
What is the first step to teach our kids to believe in themselves?- Believe In Yourself As A Parent
Yes, you read it right. We don’t realise but our children pick up our vibes. Our words are important. And if we as mothers/parents are constantly filled with self-doubt, then our kids are going to learn the same. As mothers, don’t we always second guess our every decision? (Did I buy the right toys or did I put them to sleep properly or did I prepare the right cereal, etc?). Children learn from what they see and if they see a strong, confident parent then they are likely to see themselves as strong and confident too. Our little ones identify themselves as extensions of us so when we treat ourselves well, they feel treated well too.
This being the first, there are many other things we can do on daily basis to boost our kids confidence and belief in themselves.
Praise Them Right
Before we teach kids to believe in themselves, they have to believe that we as parents believe in them. They will not believe in themselves unless we don’t learn to build them up with our words. Praising them for every small or big achievement of theirs, using the right words, is one of the best way of doing that.
Show Your Trust On Them
Express your trust on kids and show them time and again that you have immense belief in them and their capabilities. With my own kids, I do this by giving them a certain task (like make their bed, set the table, etc) or letting them play alone (a safe area, of course). By doing this, we help them to believe they are capable and trustworthy.
Set Open Communication
Let kids know that they can always come to talk to you (& vice versa). Build this trust that they share anything with you and you won’t judge them. Accept what they say, even if you don’t agree with it. An open and healthy communication this way can help kids discover their self-worth.
Let Them Make Mistakes
We jump instantly to help our kids when we see them in trouble. Best is to support them but first let them solve their own issues and learn from their mistakes. Teach them that there are no failures, just lessons. It’s okay to make mistakes. Children will never gain self-confidence if all their issues are easily solved for them or if they are not allowed to make mistakes.
Teaching our children to love and believe in themselves is a hard lesson simply because it’s hard to love and believe in ourselves as parents. The greatest challenge of parenting is the inner work that it requires- the strength and confidence in believing that we can do it while teaching our kids the exact same thing – they can do it.
This post is part of the #BlogchatterA2Z challenge by Blogchatter
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