Do you find the grades of your child declining without any evident reason? Does your child make excuses and projects his failure upon others? Does he/she appear overly sensitive about what others think of him/her? Does he/she show temper tantrums often? Does your child avoid challenges or tasks given to him/her without even trying? If so, there is a possibility that he/she might be afraid of losing or failing on a given task.

Your child could be suffering from a lower image of self, lack of confidence and from what psychologists call a lower self esteem. The way we think and feel about ourselves refers to our self esteem. A higher self esteem can be related to success in school, better relationships, happiness and satisfaction in life. On the contrary, a lower self esteem can make the children think negatively about themselves and their lives. Self esteem can be related to various domains of a child’s life. It can be academic, physical or social. A child having a higher academic self esteem may have a lower physical or social self esteem and vice versa.

The parents of a child can play the foremost role in developing his/her self esteem. The first step to be taken in helping a child with lower self esteem is to show an unconditional self acceptance and a positive regard for the child. Moreover, parents should help the children in choosing activities which are appropriate to them according to their developmental age, thus providing them with opportunities to feel adequate and successful. Parents should always listen to children and deal with them by giving them appropriate attention while helping them solve their problems. However, they should not be over possessive about their child’s situation and also encourage him/her to deal with small problems and situations himself. This will help incredibly in boosting the child’s self esteem.

Last but not the least; parents as well as teachers should focus their efforts on providing the child with constructive praise that involves acknowledging efforts as well as focusing on the process and outcome to help the child learn better. These gestures will create an expression that will help the children gain more self confidence. Therefore, when the children know they are being cared for and valued, that can have a remarkable impact on the enhancement of their self esteem.