Parents must lead by example. Don’t use the cliche; do as I say and not as I do.
We are our children’s first and most important role models.
-Lee Haney
Children learn new skills everyday right from the day they are born. Their learning pace is fast enough to send us for a spin. Alongwith those new abilities, they are also gaining the confidence to use them.
Parents play a very important role in making their children confident. As a parent, you have to be a confident parent to raise confident kids.
Confident parents raise confident kids
As parents, it’s our first and foremost duty to make our children capable and self-sufficient. Our children are always watching us and constantly learning by observing us.
Our perceptions, beliefs, responses and reactions decide how they grow in their formative years and eventually, what kind of people they turn out to be in their adulthood. Their observations become the learnings that they carry in their adulthood.
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Role of Parents – Lead by Example
There are 11 ways you can be a role model for your children and set them up to feel Capable and Confident:
1. Model confidence
Display confidence even if you’re not in that mindset! Seeing you approach new tasks and projects with enthusiasm and plenty of planning offers an excellent example for children. However, this doesn’t mean that you have to put up a show of perfection. Recognize your fear or anxiety, but don’t dwell on it; instead, concentrate on the positive things you’re doing to prepare yourself for the new tasks.
2. Praise perseverance
Learning to cope with the frustration of disasters and struggles, and not give up after a setback is a crucial life skill. Confidence and self-esteem aren’t about always succeeding; they’re also about being resilient enough to keep trying and not becoming discouraged if you don’t achieve the desired results.
3. Don’t let the mistakes upset you
Be mindful when you react and respond to your or someone else’s mistakes. Toward yourself and others, try to be less judgemental and more empathetic when you are trying to analyse the situations. That will encourage your children to understand that everyone makes mistakes and the essential thing is to learn from them rather than dwell on them.
Confident people don’t let fear of failure stop them from succeeding—not because they’re certain they’ll never fail, but because they know how to deal with setbacks.
4. Recognise and celebrate your efforts
Celebrate your efforts and show your kids how excited you become just by putting in the efforts without worrying about the outcome. Appreciate people for their efforts in front of your kids.
You’ll make your kids understand that it’s nice to appreciate and praise people for their achievements. They will also learn that it’s equally important to let others know that you recognise their efforts regardless of the results.
5. Set yourself up for challenges and success
Developing new talents takes time and effort, and results aren’t always quick. It is not only applicable for children but for adults as well.
Challenges are equally good for both kids and adults. While you take time to hone a skill or learning a new one, let your children know that you recognise their efforts, whether they’re infants building with blocks or teenagers learning to play the guitar.
6. Involve yourself and your kids in the daily tasks
Just don’t sit back watch others do the household chores or cooking. Reach out and offer help wherever and whenever possible for you. This way you’ll be able to spend more time with your family and kids. This will also help you strengthen your bond with your family and kids.
Children feel more connected and valued when they are involved in household chores and expected to complete age-appropriate tasks. Tasks such as tidying up toys, doing dishes, making their bed or picking up younger siblings from a play date. While homework and extracurricular activities are beneficial, being needed by your family is priceless.
7. Don’t compare yourself with others and embrace imperfection
Next time you see gorgeous holiday pictures or that perfect social media feed of a friend, remind yourself not to compare yourself and your life with them. Remind yourself that being less-than-perfect is perfectly normal and perfectly acceptable Even though adults understand that perfection is unattainable, it’s critical that children also understand this as early as possible.
Help kids understand that the concept that others are always happy, successful and perfectly dressed, whether on TV, in a magazine, or on a friend’s social media page, is a toxic and damaging myth.
8. Try new things and encourage your kids as well
If you love to try new things and gain new experiences then pass this quality to your kids as well. Attaining new skills makes kids feel capable and confident that they can tackle whatever comes their way.
9. Goal setting and accomplishing
Setting and accomplishing objectives, big and small, makes us feel powerful and in control. Teach your children setting goals, big or small, and help them achieve those goals.
Encourage your child to write a list of things she wants to accomplish to help her turn her wishes and dreams into concrete objectives. After that, practise breaking 8down longer-term goals into manageable milestones. You’ll be recognising her passions and assisting her in developing the abilities she’ll need to achieve her life goals.
10. Learning from failures
It’s natural to want to protect your child from failure, but kids learn from trial and error – and so do we. How you react to your failures plays a very important role. Show your kids that you are dusting yourself and getting back up each time. They will learn not to give up, to keep trying and giving their best shot each time.
Teach your children that falling short on a goal helps them find out that it’s not fatal. It can also spur kids to greater effort, which will serve them well in their adulthood.
11. Show your support and love
Show your love and support not only for your kids but also for other family members as well. Make them feel secure and loved. Your children will know that you will always love them and have their back, no matter what.
Whether they win or lose the big game, whether they get good grades or bad grades, it doesn’t matter. Making sure your child knows you think they’re terrific all of the time, not just when they’re doing wonderful things, will boost their self-esteem even when they’re feeling like a failure.
Bottom Line
As children grow older, their confidence becomes just as vital as their other skills. To thrive, children must have faith in their own skills while also learning to cope if they don’t succeed at anything.
As a parent, you have to overcome your doubts, fears, hesitations and anxieties and become more self-confident to raise a confident kid. Kids acquire healthy self-confidence through your support, love, achieving mastery of a skill and rebounding from failure.
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