Dr. Roseanne Lesack, a certified child psychologist and director of the Unicorn Children’s Foundation Clinic at NSU’s Mailman Segal Center, about five things that parents can do to instill confidence in their kids.
- They Tie Their Kid’s Work Ethic To Their Success: “Kids should be able to say: I’m confident in these areas, because I’ve worked hard. I’ve practiced a lot. I really want to get good at this. That’s a good thing,” says Lesack. If parents don’t stress this, kids might forget their worth if they fail at a math test despite their best efforts, which can lead to a crisis of confidence in their own self.
Roseanne Lesack, Ph.D., BCBA-D, ABPP
- They Compliment Themselves In Front Of Their Kids: “Parents should talk about their own accomplishments: ‘I put in a lot of effort at this project at work, and I did a nice job because I spent time on it,’” Lesack says.
- They Compliment Their Kids On Their Skills: Parents who want to raise kids who have a healthy sense of confidence don’t just shout “Great game!” at them until their kid knows they’re awesome. They compliment them on specific things that they did well, like, “When you made that goal in the second quarter, you had some really great footwork,” or, “At the end of the game, you played really great defense against number four.”
- They Are Honest With Their Kids About Their Weaknesses: “Kids also need to know what they don’t know. You don’t always want your kid to be confident. In fact, you want the opposite. Because you don’t want them to be cocky,” says Lesack.
- They Tie Success Back to Teamwork: According to Dr. Lesack, parents need to make sure that kids know that their own success didn’t occur in a vacuum — and that without the help of other, hardworking friends or study buddies, they might not have won the game or aced the test.
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