Oftentimes, people begin to think about self-image affecting children during their adolescent years because, as you know, this is when children start to express themselves in a more outwardly manner. Helping your child build a positive self-image is essential for him/her to be able to express themselves in a positive way throughout their adolescent years. Children with a more positive self-image tend to act more independently, take pride in their accomplishments, and tolerate frustrations easier. Children with a more negative self-image tend to avoid trying new things, put down their own talents and abilities, and are easily influenced (and as you probably know, not all influences are good). There are a number of ways that parents can try to help build their children’s self-image. They include:
- Teach your child to work through frustrating demands. It helps to have your child view the demand as a challenge or to even turn the demand into something that is more like a game. Also, pointing out the necessity of the demand/challenge can help your child to understand its importance. Taking time to show your child that the demanding task is usually something that will help them to increase their skills in a certain area is important because it gives meaning to the task.
- Teach your child how to be assertive. Instilling a passive or aggressive attitude within your child often leads to a negative self-image because their interactions with others are not positive. A great way to teach your child to be assertive is to do role-plays with them about what to say when he/she is faced with a challenging situation. Also, modeling assertive behavior is an easy way to display this for your child.
- Help your child to focus on his/her strengths by pointing out all of the positive things that he/she does.
- Let your children work out conflicts with siblings on their own. This teaches your child social skills and it teaches him/her to be confident in their actions during social situations.
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