How to boost a child's self-confidence?

Answer 1

Praise, and more praise. Find something to brag on them about. Doesn't matter to much what you praise them for.
By the way, this also works on adults. Despite what some may think, self-confidence is not a personality, it is a learned behavior.
One more time: praise is the best teacher, young or old.

Answer 2

Don't be an over-bearing parent.
Praise the good without going overboard and keep him/her away from those other over confident/aggressive/over assertive little sh1ts that other parents have. They're the ones with the problems. Not you.
Failing that, why not find a karate class to boost self esteem, develop poise and the ability to handle him/herself if needed?

Giving a child a lot of choices as suggested aboive causes confusion and lets the child think he/she has the right to make those choices all the time, possibly in inappropriate places and circumstances. YOU are the PARENT. YOU make the choices in the child's BEST INTEREST.

Answer 3

Stop saying "Good job!" Saying "good job" is an extrinsic motivator. If you are a parent who says "good job," your child will only care what others think about them instead of caring what they think about themselves. Instead, say things like "You did that by yourself! You can run super fast! Look how high you can climb! You worked on that for a long time! You used so many colors on you picture!" These phrases are GREAT confidence builders! Check out this great article. http://www.alfiekohn.org/parenting/gj.htm I do this as a teacher, and I see amazing results in my students when it comes to building self-confidence!

Offering choices also helps boost self-confidence. "Should we have chicken or pasta for dinner? Should we walk or ride bikes to the park? Do you want to wear the green shirt or the blue one?" Children who are offered choices feel very powerful.

Having children help with "adult type" activities also help. Your child can help you with dinner, cleanup, or shopping for groceries. They love it!

By using these techniques, children will become very self-confident in no time! Hope this helps!

Answer 4

My son was very quiet and didn't want to be parted from me. We lived next door to a violent man and my poor son would hear all the screams through his bedroom wall. Then I had to go into hospital with a back problem and he really got quite anxious and almost depressed even after we had moved away from the bad situation.
My friend suggested horse-riding,which sounded crazy to me but you would not believe the difference within a few weeks. His teachers even remarked on his amazing transformation. He grew in every way and watching him controlling a big strong animal through gentle persuasion was just beautiful. I would heartily recommend it.

Answer 5

One easy answer; Give that child the love, affection and nurturing that you didn't get, as a child. There are other things that you can do, as well. Like give the child challenges that you know he or she will be able to take on and accomplish. Then reward them. Start out small and give them more as they progress. Also, teach them how to challenge themselves. Make sure the challenges are safe and intelligent. Their self-esteem will grow very quickly.

Answer 6

The age limit is 5 ... by that time the child has fully devleoped a personality of his own, if its not in him/her then it won't show. But if the child is younger then 5 then try making him/her communicate with various people.

Answer 7

Lots of praise in all the right situations .Maybe get the child into group activities / situations as the key is interaction ..

Answer 8

"It takes a hundred 'you're wonderfuls' to make up for a single 'you're not good enough'" - Dr. Phil.
Tell them constantly that you love them and talk all the time about their good qualities.
Teach them about how to have a positive internal dialogue - the inner voice we all have speaking to us constantly. Make sure the child's inner voice is saying good things, not stuff like 'you can't do that' or 'you look fat in that'.

Answer 9

give them a lot of choices in their every day activities, it will make them feel like they have control over their life and that their opinion is important. ask for their opinon on things that go on in the house, like what is for dinner, the fairness of the rules. now of course this doesnt mean to let them run the house. when you give them choices you give them 2-3 choices that would make you happy and they get to pick from those. let them make mistakes, they may make big messes in the process but they will learn from them.

Answer 10

get the child in some activitys . . football karate ... volleyball make them feel part of a team