Ideas for raising kids with a healthy dose of self-esteem
Linda Joyce Bruce, developer of the E-Classroom SACE accredited Social Emotional Learning CPD course (45 points earned on completion) shares her ideas on raising kids with a healthy dose of self-esteem. A great read for parents and teachers alike.
“Do as I say and not as I do”. It is a fundamental flaw in parenting that we eventually grasp and recognise: our children mimic our behavior. Our children do as we do, rather than what we say. This challenges us to practise what we preach and walk our own talk, which can prove tricky when dealing with issues like self-esteem, something many of us are still trying to figure out ourselves.
Sometime between the births of my second and third children, I acknowledged, with the same degree of horror caused by the discovery of post-birth hemorrhoids that I was suffering from low self-esteem! I was unable, at the time, to convince myself that I was still good at anything meaningful or worthy of posting on Facebook!
I pondered this dilemma. Had I always had low self-esteem, or was it another unexpected by-product of motherhood? How could I change the status quo and save my children from the same fate?
It took a while to find the answer, but with time came clarity and when I uncovered the simple truth of how to build a robust and resilient self-esteem that could endure the inevitable trials and tribulations of life, it fundamentally changed my relationship with myself and informed a new way of parenting.