Riddhi Deorah shares seven ways parents can build their child's self-esteem: through praise, giving independence, listening, setting realistic expectations, showing role models, and encouraging social interaction. The talk mixes personal stories with research-backed strategies for raising confident kids.
It is important to improve our child's self esteem because an improved self esteem reduces anxiety and depression in kids and enhances their academic performance, improves their social skills in them and promotes healthy relationships. I'm going to share seven ideas with you and you need to use all seven ideas to boost your child's self esteem. Just using one or two ideas will not be enough. Welcome back to my channel. Today we are going to talk about a very important topic. How to boost your child's self esteem. It is important to improve our child's self esteem because an improved self esteem reduces anxiety and depression in kids and enhances their academic performance, improves their social skills in them and promotes healthy relationships. Before I share some amazing ideas with you, let me quickly tell you a little about myself in just one line. I am Riddhi Devra, founder of India's largest digital school for mothers called Easy Parenting Hub and I am on a mission to help mothers build happy families so that we can build a happy nation together. I am going to share seven ideas with you and you need to use all seven ideas to boost your child's self esteem. Just using one or two ideas will not be enough. The first and the most important step is to show your child unconditional love. Let them know that you love them no matter what. This builds a strong foundation for their self esteem. Simple acts of love and affection like a hug or a kind word can make your child feel valued and secure. Research shows that on average children need 12 minutes of hug time to feel calm and accepted. Step two is to praise your child's effort and not just their results. When you acknowledge their hard work, they learn to value their effort and feel proud of or what they can achieve. Remember, it's important to focus on the process and not just the outcome. This encourages a growth mindset. For example, instead of telling your child oh wow, you got an A on your test, you're so smart. Try something like this. I saw how hard you studied for your test. Your effort really paid off. Let me give you one more example. Instead of saying your drawing is very beautiful, you try saying something like this. I love how you used so many different colours and worked on it for so long. You really put a lot of thought into this. Step three is to encourage independence. Let your child make choices and take on age appropriate responsibilities. This helps them feel capable and confident. When children have the opportunity to make decisions, they learn to trust their abilities and and feel so much more confident. For example, I sometimes allow my 7 year old child to use Google Map and he will take me to my friend's house. This makes him feel so happy. I also sometimes ask him to help me delete all my spam emails. Just doing these small things makes my child feel very confident and very independent. Step four is to listen to your child and show respect for their feelings and their opinions. This makes them feel heard and so much more valued. By actively listening and respecting their thoughts, you're actually showing your child that their voice matters. When your child says something, maybe you don't approve of it, maybe you feel like correcting them, but please don't do so immediately. Let your child finish sharing and later, maybe after two, three hours you can give them some feedback. Don't do it just as they are sharing. Step five is to set realistic expectations. Encourage your child to do the best but avoid putting too much pressure on them. This helps them to feel confident in their abilities without the fear of failure. When expectations are realistic, children feel more motivated and less anxious about meeting them. For example, if your child is preparing for his piano exam or recitals, don't tell your child you need to play the entire piece perfectly without any mistakes because you have an exam. Instead, say something like this. It's important to practice regularly so that you can do your best at your recital. It's okay to make mistakes. Just enjoy playing the piano. Step six is to provide positive role models. Show your child examples of confident and kind individuals they can look up to. Positive role models can inspire children to develop similar qualities and feel good about themselves. This is how you can introduce some positive role models to your child. Read stories biographies of individuals who exhibit positive traits. Characters in books can be powerful role models. I remember when I was little my father used to show me so much content from Oprah Winfrey. My mother used to read stories from Sudha Murthy books and that has really stayed with me till now. Then of course, watch movies, documentaries, TV shows that feature inspiring characters and real life heroes. My son loves football so I usually expose him to stories of footballers like Ronaldo and Messi. If your child loves cricket, you can tell them Sachin and maybe a Dhoni story. And Step seven is the last but not the least important step. It's very important is to encourage social interaction. Help your child build strong relationships with peers and adults. Social skills are crucial part of self esteem. Activities like play dates, sports and family gatherings can help children learn how to communicate and build trust in their social abilities. So there you have it. 7 Steps to Boost your child's self esteem. Remember, confidence is something that grows over time with love and support. So do not be impatient. Just be calm with your child and you'll see some beautiful results. I hope this was useful. Thank you so much for watching. And if you found this video helpful, make sure you give a thumbs up and share it with other parents. And don't forget to subscribe to my channel for more parenting tips. And of course, come back next week to watch my next video on how to help your child with their homework. I know so many mothers keep sending me this question, so if this is something that's bothering you, you must come back to watch this video. And boosting your child's skill self esteem is a journey. Every step you take makes a difference. Happy parenting and I'm going to see you next time.
