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Self esteem describes the way we feel about ourselves. Children are not born with either low or high self esteem, so they need to learn how to feel good about themselves.

There is a strong connection between high self esteem and positive outcomes in life, such as good social relationships, academic and employment success, a good sense of wellbeing and great coping skills.

Children with high self esteem will often be:

• confident
• able to make mistakes and try again
• proud of what they do and believe in themselves
• feel liked and accepted
• managing better at school, at home and with friendships

Children with low self esteem can often

• have low confidence and can doubt themselves
• worry they are not as good as other kids
• focus on when they fail rather than when they succeed
• be self-critical and hard on themselves
• give up on things, become withdrawn and avoid school

Ways we, as parents, can help build our children’s self esteem

• give lots of love and praise
• be a role model,
• teach them new skills and help them become independent
• do not give harsh criticism

It can be common for children and young people to struggle with their self esteem. For more ways to help them please take a look at the useful links below…