Parenting is all about helping our child become self-confident, independent, resilient adults. It is of course our job to protect them too. But as they grow we need to provide opportunities to develop, learn and grown healthy skills they can take with them into adulthood. These opportunities will help build their self-confidence. But what is self-confidence?

What Is Self-Confidence?

Self-confidence is simply a feeling of trust in one’s abilities, qualities, and judgement. Most adults can have a hard time with feeling this way about themselves, and will struggle to pass it on to their children. If you find you are struggling with your own self-confidence then remember it’s never too late to build it. Reach out for support to a therapist and build your self-confidence as this will have a knock on affect on your child.

Children And Self-Confidence.

Children who have good self-confidence will feel, and also act in, the same way as a self-confident adult. On the other hand, children with low self-confidence will allow others to treat them poorly. These children give up more easily and will feel unsure about their abilities. As a result they simply may not even try something. But when does self-confidence start in childhood?

When Does Self-Confidence Start?

We know that self-confidence starts in infancy and develops slowly over time. This happens because a child feels safe, loved and accepted. It develops when a child gains their parent’s positive attention, care, hears positive self-talk, and sees good self-care modeled by the parent.

These children hear praise and know their parents are proud of them. They will receive positive discipline and are allowed to make mistakes. The child is also encouraged to try hobbies and new things, interests and help at home. When they build their self-confidence they will feel capable and grown into independent adults.

Please remember it isn’t easy to build self-confidence in another if you are not feeling self-confident yourself. But all is not lost we can still help our child while also working on our self. You can find some tips on building self-confidence in adults here.

Remember too self-confidence is something we can rebuild at any time. We can all take knocks over the years, even children, so don’t feel all is lost. If you feel you or your child needs help with this then please reach out. A therapist can very quickly help you to turn things around.

My Book.

Did you know I talk about basic self-care in my workbook The Building Blocks Of Self-Care? The steps in this workbook will help you lay the foundations to rebuilding your self-confidence. You can purchase it on Amazon or here.