A child’s life can be impacted in every way by low self-esteem. It can also emerge in a variety of ways.

Irina Gorelik, a child psychologist at Williamsburg Therapy Group, lists some signs of poor self-esteem as having trouble tolerating unpleasant feelings or being reluctant to take ownership of your own achievements.

Another possibility is that a youngster will shy away from challenges and be either overly perfectionist or quick to give up.

She explains that while kids who are slower to warm up may be better at trusting themselves, kids who may appear to be most extroverted and confident may struggle with self-esteem.

There are steps you can take to increase your child’s confidence today and assist them in coping with challenges if you believe they have low self-esteem or are concerned they could acquire it negative thoughts.

Make sure they experience negative feelings

Kids may become more self-conscious if their feelings are ignored, according to Gorelik. Invalidating children’s sentiments, she warns, may result from trying to talk them out of unpleasant feelings or telling them they are overreacting.

While learning how to deal with negative emotions now might be challenging at the time, it will be better for them in the long term.

Allow children to feel the full spectrum of feelings and teach them to believe what they are feeling, she advises.

Don’t try to “fix” their emotions.

Don’t view their emotions as a problem that has to be fixed.

Instead of intervening to ‘correct’ negative feelings,’ Gorelik advises, “concentrate on listening when youngsters share about difficult events and helping them define their emotions.”

“Allow children to problem solve on their own as much as developmentally appropriate, with encouragement & support,” she continues, “and allow them try to sort things out themselves.”

Adopt a growth mentality.

Some types of praise may be more effective than others in boosting a child’s self-esteem. Encourage your youngster to focus on or claim credit for their efforts rather than their outcomes, advises Gorelik.

Communicate that talents are developed via effort and hard work rather than concentrating just on the results, she advises.

Instead of focusing solely on the sensation of scoring the goal, you might comment after your child achieves a point in a game by asking, “Wow, you spent many practises trying to do that, how does that feel?”

You may say, “I see you worked extremely hard on that,” if they draw a picture.

Instead of praising how lovely the painting is, you could have said, “How did you conceive of using those colours.

Instead of relying on praise from others or rewards, you want your child to have internal confidence.