Archive for May, 2007



Building Self Esteem in Children

Wednesday 30 May 2007 @ 6:38 am

The only way for children to succeed is by building up one’s self esteem. Those who have this will be able to achieve a certain ambition later on in life, which is something that could only happen with the support of parents and the teachers that molded the child.

The first signs of this begin the moment the infant is born. It is the smile that the parents have after seeing the child for the first time, the first words ever spoken, the time the infant is able to stand and walk without any help.

Parents may not know it but even during this stage, the child understands the acknowledgement being given usually that could be through words or signs of affection. So, one of the most effective ways of building self esteem is by constantly praising the children.

Some experts believe there is a danger when the parent does this often. There are two reasons.

First, the child will get used to the attention being given after something has been done. Parents are just two of the billions of people on the planet and the person will soon figure out that the words of praise being does not mean that much to the rest of society.

Second, the young ones are not always correct. Some bad things will be done and unless parents do something about it, the child will not be able to know the difference between right and wrong.

Part of building that self esteem then should also have constructive criticism. This means talking to the child and explaining the things that were right and where it went wrong. There are always different ways to approach a certain challenge and looking back, perhaps there was a better way to do it.

There must also be a balance here because although the parent has good intentions in criticizing each move, this can further diminish the one’s self confidence as the child feels attacked again and again.

Parents do both not to create the child into one’s likeness as God did when man was developed but simply helping the person become a productive member of society that has rules and laws that everyone has to live by.

The third way to help build self esteem in children is in the parents. The actions being shown by the mom or dad also play a part in the child’s development. Those who curse often will be surprised one day that the child will do the same.

Although watching movies and television have a role in making this happen, parents are there 24 hours a day 7 times a week which is a lot more time than a one or two hour show can ever do to a child.

Parents have to be the ones to set an example. If either mom or dad did not have strong sense of self worth as a child, the kids should not suffer the same fate. These people are aware of the mistakes before and will rather correct or prevent this from happening so this won’t happen to the next generation.

It is never easy to bring out the best in a child. There will be trials ahead and those who succeed can be proud seeing the son or daughter graduate from high school or college and instill the same qualities when these people will also have children.




Some Self Esteem Building Exercises

Thursday 24 May 2007 @ 7:08 pm

There are simply times when we feel so bad about ourselves. It can be caused by a lot of things. Heartbreak is one of the most common reasons for low self esteem and is often the case for people who lost their self to their relationship. For the people who are in love with their career, a demotion can kill their self esteem. Workaholics who get fired are the number one candidates of low self esteem.

Teenagers who devote their time and energy to finally getting that slot in the varsity will have a lot to work on their self esteem should they be cut from the team. Self esteem is anchored in a lot of things like the factors mentioned above but solely depending on one single factor is not good. A high self esteem should be gained by being able positive toward all aspects of life and not just one.

In case you are one of those people who are suffering from low self esteem or happen to know someone who is suffering from low self esteem then read on and maybe these exercises can help you in finding your way back to gaining that high self esteem. Let us start off with your self. The mirror can do so many things. How many times have we seen depressed people throw mirrors or throw something at mirrors to break them because they do not like what they see?

Many, many times I would bet. So let us begin with making sure that we like what we see in the mirrors. In this phase, physically looking good is very important so take the time to fix yourself. Take a trip to the parlor or to the gym. It is a must that you like and love what you see in the mirror because such fondness is a good way to start making yourself better. And when that is settled, look at the mirror every morning and say “I love myself” not because your narcissistic but because you love the unique you who have so much to offer to the world.

Have one day of fun with friends every week. Sometimes surrounding yourself with people is not enough. You have to have a day spent with really close friends wherein you do nothing but celebrate the “highs” of the week. Think up of something like the “snap cup” in the movie Legally Blonde and have a session every week.

Why every week? It is nice to always have something to look forward to every week. This exercise, aside from helping you keep your self esteem, will enable you to share a unique bond with your friends and together you will all grow up beautifully. Be careful not to over praise each other so make sure that you only give sincere and timely praises to each other.

Those are just two exercises you can practice to build your self esteem or to finally build a high self esteem. There are other ways but one individual practice and another group exercise should encourage you to get at least get started and then just keep on doing it until it becomes habit. You never know, when you are so good at it then you can begin to walk the talk and inspire others to do the same.




Building your Self Esteem

Wednesday 16 May 2007 @ 10:06 am

A lot of people are hard on themselves. It is always good to hear people say that they do not compete with other people because they only have to outdo their selves. This is a good attitude because when you focus on yourself, you develop at your own pace and you don not see yourself at a loser.

There are times though when this becomes negative because a person becomes too criticizing of himself or herself. There is no worst critic than yourself because once you believe in the negative self worth you put in your mind, you could easily crumble with whatever negative the world will throw at you. A low self esteem is one of the greatest enemies of a person because losing it is like losing oneself.

Before it is too late, let us focus on building self esteem. It is important always be optimistic. Most people you meet are cynical these days but there is no reason for you to join the crowd. Being optimistic means capitalizing on the good and positive. No matter how bad the situation or how things maybe so difficult for you, there are always good and positive things to turn to.

You do not have to lose touch of reality to be optimistic. You just have to learn how to deal with a sad situation with a happy disposition or a really bad scenario with a hopeful disposition. It should also not stop within yourself because you have to practice optimism to other people and ideally wherever you find yourself at.

Helping other people is also another way to build self esteem. You do not have to be rich to help other people so do not wait until you are a millionaire before you start being charitable. There are other things you can share with other people to help uplift their lives.

If you have a special talent like teaching then do volunteer work at your community school for the under privileged or be part of your church choir. Besides we all know how blessed are those people who give more that what they have. Sincerely helping other people will make you feel good of yourself after all you do not give away kindness because kindness always comes back to you and usually at a time you need it the most.

Do not be so hard on yourself. It is okay to dream big dreams. We are always told to reach for the top but set realistic expectations and goals for your self so that if you fail or if you lag behind your timetable you do not immediately feel so bad instead you look at ways on how to get back on track.

Try and try until you succeed should be your mantra and believe that you can do it. There may be people to help you but it is really up to you. The fact that you dreamed it, you are capable of achieving it because that dream cam from the inner whispers of your soul and you cannot deny yourself that.

Having self esteem is like having a self that is ready for whatever is ahead whether it is good or bad. Always in the end, you will be a success because you’ve got the best version of you.




Learn about building high Self-Esteem

Friday 11 May 2007 @ 8:25 am

Self esteem is something that every person should have and the loss of it in a person spell disaster. Just like anything that a person has to have, a person should work at building his or her self esteem. Before one can do that, there is a need to know things about self esteem. Self esteem is how a person perceives his or herself. There are various factors that a person should have a positive attitude about including the value he or she gives to him or herself as a human being, his or her career and his or her achievements in order to develop a high self esteem.

That is only for starters, one has to go deeper an see a positive meaning to one’s place in the world and as well as one’s purpose in life. In looking at the future, there should be optimism while evaluating one’s potential to be successful by working on one’s weaknesses and highlighting the strengths. Last but certainly not the least a person has to have independence or the capacity to stand on his or her own to feet because being independent is one good way to start building a high self esteem.

Knowing all these things will help a great deal but there might also be other factors that you want to add but this is a really good start already. You might get from the very long first paragraph that building high self esteem is all about the individual and that is true because your self worth is obviously based on how the individual sees his or himself.

However the people surrounding a person also has an impact on the self esteem of the individual concerned especially the people with whom the person has a close relationship with. This is the reason why there are a lot of cases of damaged self esteems that are somehow related to emotional and physical battery as well as milder cases of heartbreaks for the teenagers.

Getting back on your feet has a lot to do with getting that self esteem back after a shattering experience. It does not matter if you work on building it slowly so long as you are focused at getting your high self esteem back to where it belongs.

The importance of high self esteem is one thing that we cannot ignore because it is very crucial as a cornerstone to a happy living. Having a high level of this aspect of yourself will make you highly motivated to work at achieving your goals will give you the right attitude to be successful in whatever endeavor one chooses to take.

In fact in a CNN interview with Robert Wagner by the legend Larry King, he was quoted as saying that “I would tell them the most important thing is to work on your self esteem, that is the best advice I can give.” Take it from someone who knows what he is talking about and to one who walked the talk. So for those who have low self esteem, look within yourselves and discover that there is so much about you that you can be proud of.

For those who are lucky enough to already be working on building high self esteem, keep up with your good work and hopefully nothing will ever crush you should something very challenging come your way.




Building the Confidence and Self Esteem of your Teenager

Sunday 6 May 2007 @ 2:19 pm

The teenage years are probably the most awkward years for your teenagers. When a child reaches this age, he or she faces many new changes and challenges. It was much easier when they were younger because parents have total control over their children but as babies grow up to be teenagers along comes the development of the minds to think on their own.

Teenagers want to try new many things and they are ever more ready to meet challenges head on but what scares most parents are the facts that not all new things are good and that not all challenges are meant to be attacked head on. The parents though are careful to be interfering because at this stage the teenagers want to prove themselves so they think that resisting their parents is cool.

This is indeed a difficult situation but one sure way a parent can be of help to a teenager is to help the teenager build his confidence and self esteem. A teenager with high self esteem and has self confidence have an edge over those who are easily swayed by the crowd and who cannot defend themselves from people who just wish to manipulate them into making the wrong decisions or into doing things that are bad for them.

Parents should be able to teach their teenagers that people come in all shapes and sizes that way they will be able to be more accepting of their physical attributes and would also be non-judgmental of others. Encourage them to get into activities where the playing field is equal. Sports is a great way to develop the social skills of your teenager and a chance to excel. A teenager with good social skills would be able to handle all types of people and situations. Excelling in anything can boost a teenager’s confidence and self esteem.

Teenagers should earn their self esteem because that way they will not give it up just like that. Parents can support them in this endeavor by constantly giving well deserved and genuine praise. While parents cannot be there all the way, they should always be ready to lend a hand when their teenagers need a hand to hold on to. For sure there will be failures along the way but a little failure is always a good sign. What is most important is to teach them resilience.

Parents are not meant to shield their children from pain and discomfort but rather for them to make sure they will go through pain and discomfort and then come out fine. Make sure that it is clear that you will never abandon them no matter what. Give them the vote of confidence that they can handle the situation because that is the only way to show respect to their independence.

As much as parents want to be their number one cheer leaders in a loud way, the quiet belief in your teenagers will make more impact. Reality bites, we all know that but always there is always a room to go forward.

Hopefully all these things will guide parents in making life easier for both them and their teenagers. No one says that this will be an easy ride but like in any case we can always find ways to make things lighter for us and for everyone around us.




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