Helping Tips on Raising Confident Kids
When they’re young, children can often seem utterly fearless. They’re often able to take on the new experiences that the world brings them without any difficulty at all. However, as they start to get a little older and more experienced with the world, you might start to notice a little bit of that pure confidence disappearing. This is just a natural part of kids getting older and understanding more of the world.
However, that doesn’t mean that your kids have to give up the confidence that they once had. In fact, that confidence becomes more and more important as they get older. With that in mind, here are some things that you can do to raise confident kids.
Are You Raising Confident Kids? 5 Helpful Tips to Guide You
Raising Confident Kids Tip 1 – Lead by Example
When it comes to learning, one of the main tools that kids use is their uncanny ability to mimic the actions of the adults around them. Kids are like little sponges when it comes to the actions and attitudes of the adults in their lives. This is something that can be both incredibly positive and potentially dangerous since they often end up absorbing just as much negative stuff as positive.
However, if you’re making a conscious effort to provide your kids with positive examples of behaviours, you’re going to give them the best possible chance to face the challenges of the world. Show them that it’s okay to face the world with confidence. A lot of the time we’re taught that being confident is somehow wrong or arrogant but teaching your child that it’s okay to face the world with their head held high then they’re going to find it so much easier to find their own confidence as they get older.
Raising Confident Kids Tip 2 – Encourage Trying New Things
When it comes to fears that children have, almost all of them stem from a fear of the unknown. And this is actually a pretty understandable fear to have. After all, dealing with new experiences and unknown quantities is hard enough for anyone, and when you’re a child basically everything is new and unknown.
One thing that you can do to help with this is to try and reframe new experiences for your child. Rather than them instinctively thinking about new experiences as ones that are frightening and difficult, you can help to encourage them to see trying new things as a positive experience. By letting them know it’s okay to jump into things that they don’t necessarily fully understand because you’ll be there beside them, you give them the confidence to face the world head on.
Raising Confident Kids Tip 3 – Don’t Worry About Mistakes
Mistakes are a part of life, that’s something we all really should come to understand. Sadly, when it comes to raising kids, it’s something that far too many people tend to forget. It’s kind of insane to look at the standard of perfection that so many of us seem to hold our children to a lot of the time. Sure, it’s great to want your kid to succeed but the truth is that if you’re not providing your child with an understanding that it’s okay to make mistakes, you’re hamstringing their ability to grow and meet new challenges.
Mistakes are part of how kids learn and if you’re getting stressed out and upset about every little mistake, that’s just going to make your kids less willing to try new things, experiment, and explore the world. Knowing that they can make mistakes safely is an essential part of nurturing a confident, curious child.
Raising Confident Kids Tip 4 – Support Them With Challenges
There will undoubtedly be things that your child comes up against in life that they find challenging. That’s just a natural part of life when everything is new and you’re still developing. It’s your duty as their parent to provide them with the support they need to meet those challenges.
Luckily, there are just as many resources to help support you in doing this as there are ways for you to support your child. From easy reading comprehension tips to help with their learning, to guidance on emotional support to help them through challenging times. There are all kinds of resources to help you best support your child. That way, as they get older, they’ll have a far better understanding of how to face challenges independently moving forward.
Raising Confident Kids Tip 5 – Give Them Space to Fail
Here’s something that you should both teach your child and internalise for yourself: failure is good. Failure is a part of life and it’s often an incredibly valuable teaching tool. But that’s only the case if you’re willing to actually learn from failure and treat it as the positive learning tool that it is.
If you’re treating every failure like it’s the end of the world and demanding perfection all of the time, your child is always going to approach new things with a sense of fear of caution. If you give them space to get things wrong then not only are they going to be less afraid when approaching something new, but they will also understand that it’s not the end of the world if they make a mistake or don’t get something right immediately, which is one of the most important skills in life.
The truth is that there are always going to be things in the world that knock your kids back and shake their confidence. That’s just a natural part of life. However, as their parents it’s your duty to be the rock that supports them even when the world tries to shake them of their confidence.
There are a lot of things in life that seems to encourage many of us to lack confidence but by helping to encourage that confidence in your kids, you’re not only setting them up for a happy and relaxed childhood but you’re also providing them with essential skills that they need to face the challenges of their adult lives far better. Life can be scary for a little kid, but knowing that you’re in their corner every step of the way can make all the difference in the world.
Are you raising confident kids? – do you have helpful tips to share? Let us know in the comment box below.
Photos by Arina Krasnikova – CCO Licence
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