Kids’ confidence – how can you help your child develop theirs?
Kids’ confidence – It can be hard to know how to help your child. Some kids appear naturally confident and don’t need help – but there are ways you can help build confidence from the start.
At PKS we make Personalised Bottle Bands and other kids’ products – and we’re always keen to learn how to help kids develop and flourish! Checkout our personalised children’s cutlery set engraved, our must have Montessori toys and our personalised rubber bands for water bottles!
Have a look at our top tips to help build your kids’ confidence!
Let them fail!
Something that’s really hard to do! Even helping kids with homework, it’s easy to jump in if you see your child about to make a mistake. Let them make the mistake and you can help them correct it!
If you prevent the mistake in it can make a child afraid to try for themselves. It’s a bit like jumping in every time you see a toddler about to fall, so they rarely experience having to get themselves up again. If they fall over, it might hurt but they learn that it’s not catastrophic and they try to avoid doing it again!
No one can get everything right all of the time! Failing at something is part of learning – and brings with it challenge. Explain to your kids that failing is just part of the process on the road to succeeding and it just means that they need to try again!
Try not to over criticise them for getting things wrong!
If your kids get things wrong then be careful not to over criticise, either with homework or a physical activity.
If they do get something wrong then you can help them to see how they could do it better – try not to just give a correct answer and a cross by their work! Help them to figure out where they went wrong and remind them that getting things wrong is something everyone does!
Be confident yourself!
You might not feel it but modelling confidence means that your kids will follow your lead. Appearing confident gives the impression that you are, and what does it matter if you are feeling nervous inside? Kids will emulate you and they will act confidently too!
Set goals
Goal setting gives kids benchmarks to aim for and satisfaction once goals are achieved. Your kids can really gain confidence by working for goals and reaching them! These goals can be mental or physical – maybe something they think they can’t do initially. Show them how to take baby steps on the way to achieving their goal and breaking it up into manageable chunks.
Often children say “I can’t do it!” – they are frustrated and shut themselves off because they feel that the task is insurmountable. A good way of dealing with this is to say “You can’t do it yet but you’re working towards it”.
Encourage your child to find what they like doing
Let your child try different things to allow them to discover what they really like doing. It might be football or reading, music or dancing – something will appeal to your child, then you can go ahead and nurture it! Having something your child really likes doing and is good at will really boost your kid’s confidence – because they know they are good !
Remember although kids often like to do things that their parents also like, sometimes this is not the case and they might like doing something completely different!
Let your child try new things
Your child will develop confidence by trying out new things and having new experiences. They might feel shy at first and you might think that they can’t deal with something but if you let them they will find that trying new things is good and that they can cope in any situation!
Give them some responsible jobs!
Give your kids jobs around the home so that they are responsible for something – it could be washing the car or tidying a room, helping with the cooking or giving you a hand with the washing up!
Kids actually love feeling useful and giving them a responsible job to do will help them feel important in the family and will boost kids’ confidence!
Talk to them about social media and advertising
Social media often allows people to portray themselves as something perfect – which is unrealistic! Remind your child that people on social media can use digital tools to make themselves look more perfect as well as having cosmetic procedures so the images they see are often not achievable or realistic.
Even primary age kids can start to look in the mirror and feel imperfect when they compare themselves to stars they see online or on social media. It’s something that can dent confidence and it’s a really good idea to talk to kids about the reality of these images – and how they feel about them.
There are lots of really great role models in the public eye who don’t look perfect but are still admirable, attractive and successful – it’s worth pointing out to kids that it’s good to be different and everyone doesn’t have to look a certain way!
Encourage your child to look smart!
Encouraging your child to look smart and prepared for anything also helps their confidence – and our Personalised Bottle Bands can help their water bottles look stylish and cool for school! Check out our website for these super trendy labels for naming water bottles!
We hope our tips on building kids’ confidence help you and your child!
