Building Confidence In Children: A Guide For Parents

  Confidence is a crucial aspect of children's development. It influences children's ability to take risks, try new things, adjust to sudden changes, and develop a positive self image. Without confidence in the minds of children, they cannot achieve anything in this physical life because fearful souls are not achievers. They cannot set goals and pursue them with determination and doggedness. They doubt everything: both the one that is true and untrue. Opportunities and successes come their ways severally, but the doubtful minds let them pass away from them. They are extremely careful to try anything that is new. They fear failures; and because of that reason, they spend long years of their lives in doubts, fear, and poverty. If there is anything important and indsipensable that parents and caregivers should bequeath to their children as legacy other than wealth, it is confidence! During the early stages of child's development, children are constantly learning and exploring their environment. Hence, it is imperative that parents and caregivers provide them with the support and guidance they need to build confidence. By providing a nurturing environment, encouraging exploration, and praising efforts rather than outcomes (results), parents and caregivers can help children develop the confidence they need to succeed. 

One of the most effective ways to improve a child's confidence is to provide a supportive and nurturing environment. When children feel safe and loved, they are more likely to take risks and try new things, which helps build their confidence. For example, in Denmark, parents and caregivers prioritize creating a warm and supportive home environment, which helps children develop a sense of security and confidence. 

Praising efforts rather than outcomes is another effective strategy to build confidence in children. When children are praised for their efforts and persistence, they develop a growth mindset and are more likely to take risks and try new things. In the United States, educators are increasingly recognizing the importance of praising efforts and persistence, rather than just focusing on grades and achievements. Encouraging exploration and play is also essential for building confidence in children. When children are given the freedom to explore and learn at their own paces, they develop problem-solving skills and learn to think for themselves. In New Zealand, children are encouraged to engage in play-based learning, which promotes exploration, creativity, and confidence. Children do not understand themselves. They see themselves through the eyes of their parents and caregivers. They see the world and everything happening in it through the eyes of their parents and caregivers. That is why visionary parents and caregivers produce visionary children. Visionless parents and caregivers also produce visionless children who are like their parents. That is why it is advisable that parents and caregivers speak positive words to their children, encourage them, and stop calling them fools when they do wrong things. All children believe their parents and caregivers to the core. They believe everything parents and caregivers tell them, even if those information are misleading and false. Therefore, in order to build confidence in them, they should be given encouraging words. They should be told nothing but the truth no matter whose ox is gored. Tell the children that they are handsome and beautiful. Every child is a masterpiece of God's creation! Do not call them ugly children again. If not, ugliness will register in their hearts, and they will begin to do ugly things both at homes and at schools. Tell the children that they are intelligent, even when they are scoring the least grades in the classes. Call them future achievers, inventors, explorers, discoverers, scientists, statesmen and stateswomen, industrialists, renowned jurists, great men of God, and business moguls. Once parents and caregivers make such positive pronouncements on their children and wards, those utterances have no choice than to begin to form and take place because words have creative ability. Do not expect your child to rise so much in this world if you continue cursing him/ her. Cursed people do not go far. They are limited within a specific radius or confinement. They cannot go beyond it. 

For example, Albert Einstein was a very dull child at his developmental stage. He could not speak well till he was about four to five years old. He could not memorize any single sentence correctly like his classmates. He was always the last pupil in his class. No human being that saw him in childhood would believe that Albert Einstein will be a popular figure in the world. His class teacher called him "dull brain" several times. His teacher called him "dull brain", but his mother rejected the negative pronouncement on her son. She wept and laid her hands on him and called him "world-class genius." While Einstein was performing so low in his classroom tests, he still believed that what his mother called him was true. While he did not ever come closer to scoring high grades in any examination, he believed unflinchingly in his heart that he was a world-class genius in-the-making according to his mother's confession. Though Einstein was not an intelligent child, he was known for his undying curiosity and endless readiness to ask intelligible questions. It was his curiosity that transformed and positioned him to be a world-class genius when he propounded the Relativity Equation (E=MC2). Curiosity is better than the knowledge of any subject you can think of. A curious student is by far better than the one who scores 100% in a subject but without an atom of curiosity in him/ her.

Why is it so? It is because curiosity leads to positive questions. Positive questions lead to research. Research leads to invention and discovery. It is only a curious mind that is endowed with the ability to send the inner man on errand to travel to the higher realms to get solution to the problems buffeting mankind. Curiosity is the mother of invention and all technologies that we are enjoying today. Most of the world's inventors, explorers, discoverers, and philosophers are not Ph.D holders and professors. Please, I am not insulting our great academicians! I hold them in high esteem! A highly intelligent student from the university may end up being employed by another university drop-out who possesses curiosity as a working tool and compass. Have you once asked yourself why school drop-outs, half-baked, and uneducated people are inventors, discoverers, explorers, manufacturers, industrialists, and others? It is through the wheels of curiosity! If you call your child a fool, that child will believe that it is true that he/ she is a fool indeed. He/ she will begin to perform like a fool. If you call an adult a fool, it means nothing to him/ her because he/ she knows that what you said is not true. He/ she knows that you spoke out of provocation or hatred against him/ her. But, it is not so with children. Children believe everything they hear! 

Providing opportunities for children to take on challenges and responsibilities can also help build confidence in them. When they are given opportunities to take on small tasks and responsibilities, they develop a sense of competence and confidence. For example, in Japan, children are often given small tasks and responsibilities, such as feeding pets or helping with household chores, which helps build their confidence and sense of responsibility. In fact, there are parents and caregivers who purposely embark on brief journeys to know how their children can cope without them. 

In conclusion, building confidence in children is a critical aspect of their development, and there are many effective strategies that parents and caregivers can use to support their child's growth and development. By providing a nurturing environment, encouraging exploration, praising effort rather than outcomes, and providing opportunities for children to take on challenges and responsibilities, parents and caregivers can help children develop the confidence they need to succeed in life. With patience, support, and guidance, children can develop their confidence and resilience they need to thrive in all aspects of life.

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