Nurturing Children’s Self-Esteem Introduction
This document describes practical ways parents can provide children with the love and nurturance their continued healthy development requires. We start with a discussion of self-esteem; what it is and why it is important. Following from the importance of healthy self-esteem, we go on to discuss specific steps parents can take to foster children’s positive self-esteem and self-image.
Self-Esteem: What is Self-Esteem?
Self-esteem is, at root, a measure of children’s judgment of their own worth. The concept of self-worth is inherently social in nature, as the worth of a person emerges in large part from a person’s comparison of themselves and their abilities against the perceived abilities and value of others. Children’s self-esteem is thus heavily influence by other people’s opinions (spoken and unspoken) of children’s relative value, which is, in turn, influenced by children’s various accomplishments and failures and how these are received.
Self-esteem is primarily built through positive experience. It grows as children experience loving positive communication, and as they take on and master difficult but accomplishable developmentally-appropriate challenges. Such experiences give rise to a genuine sense of accomplishment, pride and belonging. We spend a lot of time in this document describing ways that parents can communicate with their children in loving ways that will enhance children’s self-esteem. We also describe various activities parents may engage in with their children (such as community service projects), or which children may engage in by themselves or in groups (such as camp experiences) which help enhance children’s sense of mastery, belonging and accomplishment.
With time and guidance, a few pushes, a little cheer-leading and much expression of loving support by parents, children will hopefully come to accurately see themselves as capable problem solvers worthy of respect from others and of self-respect. This posture of self-respect and self-esteem is an optimal foundation for emotional and occupational success in adult life.
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Further Reading
The content on this page was originally from MentalHelp.net, a website we acquired and moved to MentalHealth.com in September 2024. This content has not yet been fully updated to meet our content standards and may be incomplete. We are committed to editing, enhancing, and medically reviewing all content by March 31, 2025. Please check back soon, and thank you for visiting MentalHealth.com. Learn more about our content standards here.
MentalHealth.com is a health technology company guiding people towards self-understanding and connection. The platform provides reliable resources, accessible services, and nurturing communities. Its purpose is to educate, support, and empower people in their pursuit of well-being.