How To Raise Confident Kids: Top 10 Tips

How To Raise Confident Kids: Top 10 Tips

As a golden period of exploration, childhood brings ups and downs, teaching life lessons along the way. During this phase, your child may fall & stumble but learn new things in the process. It will help them acquire confidence and self-esteem. As a child grows, this confidence becomes his/her getaway to a future life of success, social happiness, and most importantly, mental health. Confident kids tend to trust in their abilities to overcome obstacles. They also have an optimistic view of life. This arises from the big or small accomplishments they achieve in their journey.

Below we have listed a few ways to build confidence in a child. These will help increase the child's sense of self-worth, shaping their overall personality.

Building Confidence in Kids: Tried & Tested Tips

  1. Let Them Know You Love Them Unconditionally

This seems to be very obvious but is probably something you may miss out on without realizing. Unconditional love is one of the most important things you can give to your child as children need to feel accepted & loved, beginning from the family and eventually extending to friends and society.

If you scold them for something, make sure to hug them later and tell them that you love them. Provide kids with opportunities that help them feel competent. Let your words and actions demonstrate that they are valued and loved. Your unconditional love and acceptance can encourage them and help build confidence in kids.

  1. Be a Role Model

Children often tend to look up to certain people around them and imitate their behavior, especially their parents. They find it fun, but you can use it to instill a sense of confidence in them. In other words, you can be their role model and encourage them to develop their skills or sharpen their abilities.

Figure out their interests and inspire them to try for the same. Also, use positive comments about yourself and others in front of the child, avoid self-criticism, and showcase the trust you have in them. This will contribute to building self-esteem in children.

  1. Encourage Them To Try Different Things/Discover New Passion and Interests

Kids need to discover their passion and understand what they are interested in. Encourage them to try out different things and learn what they excel in to understand how it can help them gain confidence in themselves and their abilities. Create opportunities for your children to try new activities that interest them and support them in their endeavors. In simple words, to build confidence in children, encourage them to try and discover what interests them the most.

  1. Teach Them to Set Realistic Goals and Achieve Them

When your child is starting something new, it is natural for them to believe they will succeed. But if they fail, it is your responsibility as a parent to make them believe in their ability and help them accept failure or criticism positively. Guide your child to set realistic goals and make them aware that their journey hasn’t ended yet and they shouldn’t fear failures. If the goal is long-term, discuss the various ways they can use to reach their goals.

  1. Praise and Celebrate Their Efforts

Appreciation always works effectively. Praising your kids for their hard work can certainly help build their self-esteem. It is a positive reinforcement that kids need after they achieve something. Praising them for little things like completing their homework or finishing their meals can garner positive results from their side. It will make them feel capable and make them work harder & better towards improving their skills.

  1. Give Them a Special Age-appropriate Task

In addition to their daily activities, assign them special tasks that are appropriate for their age to make them feel useful and responsible. Using the word “special” while giving them the task will make them feel capable and turn out to be an even bigger confidence boost. Special tasks may include; helping in daily house chores, helping a younger sibling or a pet, or simply selecting their own clothes and dressing themselves up. Performing such tasks successfully will do wonders for their self-esteem.

  1. Don’t Compare Them to Others

Children are innocent and may take certain things to heart easily. Thus, avoid comparing your child with their sibling, friend, or other classmates with questions like “Why can’t you behave like him/her?”. Such questions may lead to occasions of self-doubt in children, making them think that they can’t please you or aren’t good enough and are unable to meet your expectations. This would backfire tremendously, especially if you are trying different ways to build confidence in children.

  1. Instill in Them a Sense of Independence and Adventure

When younger children achieve something on their own, they feel self-confident. A self-confident child is keen on trying or experimenting with things without the fear of failure. You can set up different scenarios that are safe for the child and where they can do varied things themselves. Just ensure to give them their space.

For example, demonstrate how to make a sandwich and let them try to make one without your help. Or teach your kid how to dress themselves when going for a party or simply to the park.

Encourage them to explore & try new things; be it participating in an outdoor event, or trying new cuisine. This will expand your kid’s horizon and make them look at things with a new perspective, thereby building confidence in their ability to handle new situations.

  1. Help Them Overcome Their Fears

The fear of failure often prevents children from exhibiting their full potential and giving their best shot which diminishes their confidence. They may feel insecure and unsure about their abilities. As a result, they may feel disappointed in themselves and stop trying altogether.

In such situations, let them know that it is okay to fail and making mistakes is a part of life. Do not let failures deter the spirit of success within your child. Make them aware that there is no success without challenges. Also, teach them how to overcome their fears to gain success.

  1. Teach Resilience

Setbacks, failures, and criticisms are a part & parcel of life and success. Instead of looking at them as hurdles, view them as learning experiences. Teach your children to keep trying and not give up rather than dwelling over their failures.

Remember to validate their feelings when they feel low rather than waving them off casually and saying things like “You shouldn’t feel so bad”, “Just cheer up”, etc. This makes children feel accepted and helps them learn to trust their feelings and feel comfortable in expressing or sharing them.

If your kids don’t do well in a test, don’t scold them for performing badly. Instead, motivate them to work harder and perform better the next time. So, when your kids do succeed, they will take pride in their achievements.

To Sum up,

For children, confidence can give shape to their life and influence the way they behave. It is one of the most precious gifts that a child can have. So, if you are confused about how to raise your kids to become confident individuals, then we hope that the above tips on building kids self-confidence can help!

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