Grow & nurture your confidence

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Children of all ages need help with developing their self confidence. Sport or artistic activities involving teamwork such as dance and drama are good ways to help children to achieve this but parents and carers can often feel stumped, particularly if a child’s emotions are telling them they’re ‘no good’. Tips for handing this include:

Free Story:

The Sound the Hare Heard

in PDF format for printing off and reading. >>>

For Teachers:

Free Assemblies

From www.assemblies.or.uk

Primary assembly KS1

Primary assembly KS1&2

Secondary assembly

Reward achievement

Star charts and other formal methods have their place but don’t underestimate the importance of verbal, positive rewards; hearing ‘I’m so proud of you’ and an accompanying hug may not feel as immediately gratifying for the child as a new toy, but their absence will be harmful and the long term effect is powerfully positive.

Step by step

Break the problem down into small, manageable steps and help the child to see that although they may not be best in class or score a goal today, they can achieve something - a step along the way.

Affirm

Parents and carers can set themselves the goal of only using affirming language towards the child, avoiding anything that might sap the child’s confidence. To do this effectively, find some thinking time - on public transport for example - and try to think yourself into the child’s situation. What you see as a joke, they may laugh at, but feel hurt inside.

Beneath the surface

Try not to form surface impressions of your child. Sometimes we think of children as ‘over-confident’ but can you be sure that bravado is not masking an inner feeling of inadequacy? It all comes back to taking time to talk things through, picking up on the messages and signals your child is sending.