Help your child cultivate real, lasting confidence! In Kid Confidence, a licensed clinical psychologist and parenting expert offers practical, evidence-based parenting strategies to help kids foster satisfying relationships, develop competence, and make choices that fit who they are and want to become.
As parents, it’s heartbreaking to hear children say negative things about themselves. But as children grow older and begin thinking about the world in more complex ways, they also become more self-critical. Alarmingly, studies show that self-esteem, for many children, takes a sharp drop starting around age eight, and this decline continues into the early teen years. So, how can you turn the tide on this upsetting trend and help your child build genuine self-esteem?
With this guide, you’ll learn that self-esteem isn’t about telling kids they’re “special.” It’s about helping them embrace the freedom that comes with a quiet ego—a way of being in the world that isn’t preoccupied with self-judgment, and instead embraces a compassionate view of oneself and others that allows for both present awareness and personal growth. When kids are less focused on evaluating and comparing themselves with others, they are freer to empathize with others, embrace learning, and connect with the values that are bigger than themselves.
You’ll also discover how your child’s fundamental needs for connection, competence, and choice are essential for real self-esteem. Connection involves building meaningful and satisfying relationships that create a sense of belonging. Competence means building tangible skills. And choice is about being able to make decisions, figure out what matters, and choose to act in ways that are consistent with personal values. When children are able to fulfill these three basic needs, the question of “Am I good enough?” is less likely to come up.
If your child is suffering from low self-esteem, you need a nuanced parenting approach. Let this book guide you as you help your child create unshakeable confidence and lasting well-being.
There are no shortcuts to becoming a confident, determined adult. Self-esteem isn't something parents can give to a child through praise or propping up in school, sports, the arts, or friendships. As Eileen Kennedy Moore points out in Kid Confidence: Help Your Child Make Friends, Build Resilience, and Develop Real Self-Esteem, and those of us with years of experience in education know empirically and from research, the real gift parents can provide that leads to self-esteem is time and space to live through their own experiences so self-reliance, grit, and confidence blossom naturally. Kuddos to Dr. Kennedy Moore for explaining this truth so clearly and passionately and providing the practical tools for parents to wean themselves from ineffective and often damaging interventions in hopes of building self-esteem.
Every generation of parents has its own unique challenges. Current parenting norms, described by the often-heard phrases of 'helicopter or drone parenting,' include best intentions gone awry through meddling with a child's ability to build her own self-esteem. As Eileen Kennedy Moore articulates in Kid Confidence: Help Your Child Make Friends, Build Resilience, and Develop Real Self-Esteem, the true gift a parent can give is the opportunity for their child to gain the life experiences, skinned knees and bruised egos included, that authentically develop inner confidence and resilience. Dr. Kennedy Moore provides practical advice on how parents can positively impact self-esteem.