Tips on building your child’s confidence and self-esteem

You can help confidence grow with a few simple practices:
  • Encourage independence and taking reasonable risks - even if your heart is sometimes in your mouth as they do so.
  • Focus on the little successes not the failures.
  • Praise them for their successes - and also for trying when they don’t succeed.
  • Show that you believe in them - even something as simple as the friendly wink, arm around the shoulder or tussled hair works wonders.
  • Respect what’s important to them - friends, activities, new skills.
  • Be an active listener - encourage them to keep talking and don’t show boredom.
  • Encourage them to express their feelings - “How did it feel when you thought you would fall?” Don’t downplay or ignore their fears.
  • Criticise actions, not the child - never say things such as “You’re bad!” “You worry me when you run on the road”. Instead try: “Running on the road is dangerous as a car could hit you and hurt you.”


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