I want to give you 5 ways that you can boost your child’s self-confidence starting today! As moms, we want to make sure our children grow up feeling confident in who they are. In reality though as our kids get older research shows that self-confidence drops significantly beginning in the tween years. So let’s dive into some great ways to help boost their confidence.
Praise their effort instead of the outcome.
Praising your child for things they accomplish is totally normal as a parent. That is what we do. Right? We want to build them up inside and make them feel good.
Next time they are working on something try praising them for their effort instead of the end result. When we do this we are teaching them to have a growth mindset. A growth mindset is when your child believes with hard work and dedication their abilities can grow and develop. This builds resilience in your child.
They will eventually fail at something, we all do. When you praise them for their effort they can learn to be proud of the process even if the result ends up not being what they expected.
This builds confidence.
They will succeed at times and they will fail at times. They need to understand that this is part of life. If your child thinks they are only succeeding in life if they get an A+ on a paper, the lead part in the play, or become team captain, then it will be hard for them to ever gain confidence in themselves. Applaud them for trying out for the part and for all the hard work they did to prepare.
Explore new opportunities.
Exploring new things is a huge way to boost confidence. When you step outside of your comfort zone and then look back at what you did that builds confidence. Every time you do this your confidence builds and builds upon each other. Just like building blocks.
When my daughter and I created our Adventure List together we made sure we put things that were new and that we never tried before. Some of the new things we tried we loved and some things we will never do again!
Being curious and learning new things is so important for kids and adults. One of my core values in my life as an adult is to never stop learning. It’s what lights me up and gets me excited.
When you learn something new and you have the courage to explore new things, that builds confidence. Who knows, while your child is exploring they may find something that lights them up inside and they could discover something they are passionate about.
Opportunities to step outside of their comfort zone.
Stepping outside our comfort zones is not always easy but such an important thing to do.
When I was younger I wouldn’t have dreamed of stepping outside my comfort zone in fear that I would fail or make a mistake.
Stepping outside our comfort zones and getting uncomfortable is a great way to boost confidence. It never feels good to feel that fear. The key is to get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable. It means you are changing and building confidence. You have to teach your children this!
Give them opportunities to step outside their comfort zones. They may find out how much they love the thing they were so scared to try! This will give them more confidence to keep trying new things. They will learn it’s normal to feel a little uncomfortable before trying new things. What gift to give your child!
Develop positive self-talk.
Reprogramming our brain to talk more positively about ourselves is something we have to work at. As Gretchen Rubin says “we have to act the way we want to feel.” Teaching our kids to talk positively about themselves is such an important skill. It has to be taught and practiced.
If I look in the mirror and say “I look so gross today” how is that making me feel better? Also, if my child was in the room with me while I was saying that, what is that teaching him or her?
Using positive affirmations is a great way to reprogram our minds to talk more positively about ourselves. Getting in a routine to use affirmations daily will help us to speak more positively about ourselves and in turn boost our confidence.
Affirmation cards are a great TOOL to get you in the routine of talking more positively about yourself and combat those negative thoughts that creep in. If you are looking for a great tool to use check out my Affirmation card sets for Moms and young girls.
Model confidence.
As a mom, you are the first role model in your child’s life. When you show them how YOU step outside your comfort zone or that YOU are confident in yourself they will remember that.
If you are always hard on yourself for mistakes and critique yourself negatively in front of them, that is not modeling confidence. They will think that is normal to talk negatively.
Show them how you try new things even if it scares you. If you make a mistake make sure they see this too. Let them see you fall and get back up, again and again. They need to see that mistakes are normal and failure happens. They are always watching us no matter what we do or say! Be that light for them!
I hope these ideas inspired you to help build more self-confidence in your child! It is so important that we nurture them and build them up so that they will be able to grow up with the tools they need to live their best life.
Great advice Laura! So many great tips!
Thank you so much! I am so glad!