Five parenting tips to raise confident and responsible children
What's the story
Confidence is a skill that can be learned over time.
To become confident, children need to trust in their own capabilities and as a parent, it is your responsibility to provide them with an environment where they can grow into confident and responsible adults.
Here are five parenting techniques to help you make your kids feel more capable and confident.
Important family member
Give them responsibilities
One of the most effective parenting techniques to foster self-confidence in children is to make them comfortable handling responsibilities from the very beginning.
When children are given a role to play, they grow up knowing they are an integral part of the family.
Give them straightforward tasks, like letting them buy groceries from the nearest store or taking care of their younger siblings.
Love
Express your love and support
Children who receive enough love from parents and the people around them grow up to become responsible and confident adults.
Let your child know you love them no matter what.
Whether they get good grades or bad, win or lose a sports match, your love for them is not going to wane.
Let them know that you are with them, come what may.
Validation
Ask them for their opinion
When children are asked about their opinions on certain important issues of the home, they grow up knowing their thoughts and feelings matter.
They will believe they have the power to make a change in the world.
Involve your children in making important familial decisions or ask them for their ideas when you need to solve a problem.
Independent
Don't rescue them
If you always keep rescuing your children from their struggles, they won't learn valuable life lessons and skills they need, like resourcefulness and persistence.
As parents, your urge to help your children in crisis is understandable, but it can lead to dependency issues in them later on.
Instead, help them find strategies to solve their problems, but don't do everything for them.
Flaws
Embrace imperfection
Being flawed is perfectly normal - your children need to get this message at the earliest.
As your children grow up watching perfectly chiseled actors on television, and happy and perfectly dressed people on social media, they are going to have a hard time accepting their foibles.
Remind them that being imperfect is totally okay and that you love them the way they are.