Raising a self-confident child is part of every parent’s parenting goals, to have their children display signs of high levels of self-confidence in order to thrive in this world. Children attain self-confidence from a sense of competence. Achievements, encouraging words and the relationships in a child’s life all have a powerful impact as to how a child perceives himself, thus affecting their self-esteem and confidence. Today, we’ll discuss how these 5 relationships in every child’s life can determine how confident they are.

Parents

This might seem like a no-brainer but the extent to which parent’s relationship with their children affects their confidence is often greater than people perceive.  This actually happens very early on, the parent’s responsiveness to their infants affect the development of self-confidence. Children need a positive and realistic perception of their abilities in order to develop confidence. Using tools such as encouraging words, can effectively help develop their confidence. It goes without saying that unconditional love truly helps build a strong foundation for high self-esteem. The way parents react to a child’s behavior greatly affects their self-confidence and dictates their future interactions with people. It’s important to note that the parent-child relationship influences the child’s psychological development much more than the composition of the household does.

Siblings

Children can learn and be affected greatly by their siblings. Because of something called “sibling spillover effect”, older children could act as a positive role model for their younger siblings. This can be seen as older children helping their younger siblings with their academic ventures. It can also mean younger children can go to their older brothers/sisters for advice when facing self-esteem issues. That’s why parents should always keep tabs on the relationship between their children, ensuring it’s one that helps their children grow into confident well rounded healthy individuals that feel supported and loved by their siblings and parents alike.

Social Surroundings

A child’s social relationships can influence the extent to which they feel like they belong in this world. This sense of belonging impacts the way the child measures their self-worth. A child mainly encounters most of their social interactions in their educational facility: their school. This means, in order to ensure your child’s school is helping your kid to develop into a strong self-confident individual, you need to make sure it’s a TELLING school. A telling school is a school that allows its student to TELL on any bullies or any bullying taking place on its grounds. This gives the students a sense of safety that if bullying does occur the children have a trusted adult to go to in order to take the appropriate actions. Furthermore, parents should aim to enroll their children to a school that teaches its students to be kind human beings with high values, something like the Personal Learning Goals MBIS teaches it’s children.

Teachers

A student’s academic and social development is greatly influenced by their relationship with their class teachers. When a student trusts and looks up to their educator, their behavior in class improves. This helps them to engage and cooperate better in the learning process. This has a significant impact on how confident a student feels in the classroom, thus reassuring their love for school and receiving an education. All of this comes out of having a positive relationship with their teachers.

Headmaster

The same thing goes for a child’s relationship with their school principal or headmaster. It’s a gross misconception that children need to fear their authority figures in order to learn discipline and follow regulations. On the contrary, when your child feels confident enough to talk freely to the school’s headmaster this gives them a sense of responsibility towards their school. They grow up feeling respected with their voices heard and their self-esteem at it’s highest. Looking for a school with a headmaster that shares this same philosophy towards their students’ is a crucial value point in all parents school hunting criteria.

 

Paying attention to these pivotal relationships in every child’s life will help you ensure your children grow up to be a well developed, responsible self-confident members of society who easily believe they can achieve all their life goals and dreams.