How I influence my children's self esteem

This is my 4 year old daughter, Gaby, when she was awarded with two bronze medals for reading and math by Kumon in February. I feel guilty for not posting this rightaway, and when she surprised me two weeks ago with another two advanced honor roll certificates again for this quarter, I said, that’s it! I have to post this now!

Gaby also attends ballet for two years now. She loves to dance ballet and always looks forward to her yearly recital which is held in some theatre in our area. I guess she just loves the spotlight! Because of her recent achievement, I gave in to her request of signing her up in taekwondo class. I was scared to overwhelm her with activities because she is so young, and she haven’t even started school yet, so I hesitated for months. But she seem to be enjoying her karate class all the time! I also noticed that her focus improved a lot especially when it’s time for her to do her Kumon homework. She would usually play around while doing it, taking her a lot longer than she needs to. But lately, she would just sit and finished the whole thing, and then continue playing when she’s done.

Gaby has always been a happy and healthy kid. My youngest daughter, Gizelle, is growing up to be much like her sister and is already showing signs of having the same interests too. Both of them loves being with other kids. I can’t be thankful enough to have been blessed with two smart, happy, healthy and confident kids!

So how do I influence my children’s self esteem? First thing I do is to make sure that they are physically healthy. Being overweight, underweight, sick, or tired will always have an effect on how a child feels about himself. I don’t only watch what they eat — I take charge on the whole family’s diet! It won’t work to train your kids to be healthy if they see you eating junk foods all day! You, as parents, need to be good role models to them. I guess what I’m trying to do is teaching my kids how to live by letting them watch me live!

I also try to reinforce positive thinking to them by constantly monitoring how they feel. When they are feeling frustrated and depressed, I would sit down with them to talk about what happened and help them get over it by letting go of the feelings and focus on the positive aspect instead. There are lots of simple ways you could do this.

I guess the bottom line is, if you really want not only to influence your children’s self esteem but to take your whole family’s well being to the next level, you would take the time to educate yourself on how to do it and be open in making the changes. Yeah right, add this to my never ending task list! Well, me and my husband are both busy working full time and have a home based business too, but I took it upon myself to make this my top priority – no matter what. It wasn’t easy at first. In fact, the changes I had to make everybody do was welcomed with tons of complaints! But, they can’t stop a determined mom and wife!

Following a guide made it easier for me. In fact, all the strategies I’ve learned, followed and have implemented — ranging from taking charge of the family’s physical, mental, and spiritual health, are listed in my book called “The Powerful Habits Of Raising Confident Kids.”

Related posts:

1. Importance of Self Esteem in Children
2. Improving A Teenager's Self Esteem
3. Meditation Increases Self-Esteem