Raising the self-esteem of children.What is self-esteem among children

Raising the Self-Esteem of Children
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Raising the Self-Esteem of Children
Inadequate performance has been observed among children globally both in academics and other extracurricular activities. The decrease in performance of adults is associated with the kind of education that they received at their childhood stage. Hence, there is need to shape children to improve their productivity in future which intern increases the development within the society. However, parents are the major determinant of a child’s character because they interact with them most of the time. The involvement of parents in their children’s lives improves their self-esteem and their future productivity. Therefore, the assignment focuses on determining the causes of low self-esteem in children and the measures that parents can take to motivate them as well as definition of the term as it relates to children.
Self-esteem is having confident in your abilities and be ready to face and overcome challenges. Children with high self-esteem have the ability to understand their capabilities and the barriers they are likely to face in life as well as overcome them. Self-confidence makes children to be more optimistic about their future goals. The goals which the children accomplish are both big and small and in both cases they will feel good and become more optimistic in life as well avoid internalizing failures. Therefore, self-esteem is built in children through three qualities such as engaging in challenging activities, overcoming the barriers, and mastering the task (Ferro & Boyle, 2015). Children will be motivated if they have challenges that they need to face to succeed in life. The presence of the challenges creates a competitive environment among the people involved. However, an individual will be motivated if the effort put to overcome the barriers yields fruits. An individual who does not overcome the challenges will feel that other people are better than him or her and such perceptions are likely to demoralize the person in achieving the set objectives. Hence, overcoming the barriers is a quality of self-esteem. Finally, mastering the task is also a quality that will motivate a person. The mastering of the task is demonstrated after showing persistence and overcoming the barriers.
The low self-esteem which is observed in many children is as a result of several factors. The first factor is negligent parents. Children do not have experience in life and they tend to copy what they see in their surroundings. However, since parents are the adults who are mostly around their children, they play a crucial part in their lives which involve giving them advices on how they should achieve their objectives. Every child deserves a loving family (Tangney, Boone & Baumeister, 2018). However, some of the children are unable to receive adequate support from their parents. The inadequate support from guardians or parents may be contributed by social challenges such as substance abuse, mental problems, and high commitment in other activities neglecting their children. Hence, the inadequate support at home may cause self-esteem challenges as the children will feel that they are less important in the society through comparing how their friends are treated at home.
Secondly, negative peers will also lower a child’s self-esteem. Just like parents and guardians, friends also play an important role in motivating a person. Friends may pressurize a person to achieve the set targets or they may disrespect the individual by not valuing his or her feelings and thoughts (’ ’8 Common Causes of Low Self-Esteem,’ ’ 2018). The way people are viewed by their peers can make them feel that there is something wrong with them. Therefore, they will feel that the only way to succeed is to follow what they have been advised by their friends instead of following their mind and heart. The feeling makes a person to feel that they are inferior in the society which relates to low self-esteem.
Another, factor that lowers self-esteem is trauma. Trauma is mainly brought by abuse whether physical, sexual, emotional or a combination of the three. The trauma will cause a sense of guilt and shame. The feeling may make children feel that they have done something bad which in return deserves them an abuse. A child who has suffered an abuse will have a significant amount of stress and anxiety that is associated with the event. The depression and anxiety interferes with a person’s way of living. The child who is frequently abused will have a low self-esteem than other kids.
Also, body image plays a crucial part in children’s lives. Most children try to adopt unhealthy practices to manage their body weights. While girls prefer slim bodies, boys try to have more masculine body. Some of the unhealthy eating practices include using luxuries, vomiting, skipping meals, smoking cigarettes, and fasting (’ ’8 Common Causes of Low Self-Esteem,’ ’ 2018). The practices are derived from the society’s perception of how an ideal woman should look like and the appearance of man which is highly mimicked by children. The factor majorly affects children who are approaching puberty. Managing the body composition and weight will lower the self-esteem of those who cannot achieve their desired body shape.
Similarly, setting unrealistic goals will lower children’s self-confidence. The pressure from the surrounding may make a child to set unattainable targets. As a result, they will expect to achieve a lot in their academics or life and get less involved in extracurricular activities or tend have low social status (Tangney, Boone & Baumeister, 2018). Children who have difficulties with their study will think that they should score straight A’s in class. However, they do not have the knowledge to achieve their goals. As a result, such children will feel less motivated in life because they will see themselves as failures.
Other factors that contribute to low self-esteem among children are bad choices made in the past and negative thought patterns. The previous bad choices may include drugs abuse, having unprotected sex, and associating with people who have negative behaviors. The choices may haunt a person and intern lower their self-esteem (’ ’8 Common Causes of Low Self-Esteem,’ ’ 2018). Additionally, a child who frequently talks, feels, or thinks in a certain way may risk having the issue a habit. For instance, a child who frequently thinks that he or she is inf...