We all want our children to be happy, hope they will develop healthy habits and experience success in whatever they do. Every child has the potential to achieve each of these things, but there’s one key ingredient; self-confidence. Without it, your child might find it difficult to adapt to change, interact with others and form relationships, and it may ultimately harm their development. It’s important to encourage self-confidence from a young age and it’s something that can really help to make the transition to Jewish daycare much easier when your maternity leave comes to an end. But how can you teach your child to become self-confident?
Tips to Boost Your Child’s Self-Confidence Before Their First day at Jewish Daycare
Having seen hundreds of children in Thornhill, Mississauga, Maple and Vaughan enter a daycare program for the first time over the last few years, we’ve seen a whole range of reactions. Some look as though their parents have “dropped them in at the deep end,” struggling for a lengthy period of time before finally coming to terms with their new routine, while others look as though they’ve been attending daycare for a number of years on their very first day. The difference between the former and the latter group is, you guessed it, self-confidence. Here are some tips on how you can improve your child’s self-confidence.
Teach Your Child the Value of Good Manners
Manners have almost become a lost art compared to a few generations ago, but they are an important part of building self-confidence. Manners prepare you for interactions with others, teaching you about the behaviour that is expected and how you should treat your peers with respect. Simply having the knowledge of these accepted “practices” can help your child feel more self-confident when going into new experiences, such as on their first day at Jewish daycare.
Work on their Posture
Correct posture is synonymous with confidence and not only makes your child feelconfident, but it also gives the other kids enrolled in the same Jewish daycare program the perception that he/she is confident, which leads to even greater levels of self-confidence (as you can see, it has a cumulative effect). In addition to posture, teaching your child to maintain eye contact and giving their undivided attention to a person when talking to them is a good idea.
Cut-Out “False” Compliments
A common problem that we see nowadays is that parents often give their children compliments when they’ve not really done anything to deserve them, which over time devalues genuine compliments. Only praise your child for the things that they do well. It’s important to not misunderstand what we are saying here. We are not advising you to criticize your child or rarely give out compliments; simply be more selective about doing so. Should they enjoy playing football, don’t tell them that they have real talent if they don’t; instead praise the things that they do well, such as the amount of effort they put in during training sessions or their persistence. This ensures that when you do give compliments, they really mean something to your child and help to build confidence.
Let Your Child Taste Success Occasionally
Success breeds confidence. That’s what any sports coach will tell you, and the same goes for building your child’s self-confidence. Allow your child to participate in activities outside of Jewish daycare that they enjoy and are good at, as doing well will often have a positive impact on other areas of their life. This can also be achieved by setting goals. Make sure they are achievable and praise your child when a goal is accomplished. This can help to reinforce a positive, “can-do” attitude.
Welcome their Friends to Your Home
As their parents, you play a major role in their life and can have a huge influence on their self-confidence, especially in the early years. However, you are not the only people that can help to build confidence; their peers, teacher and certain aspects of the media can have a powerful affect too. Inviting your child’s friends over to stay helps to improve their social skills, encourages interactions with others and allows you to make sure their “social circle” falls in line with their own identity.
Don’t Compare Your Child to Others
Comparing your child to other children or people that you both know can have a serious negative impact upon their self-confidence and make them feel like they aren’t “good enough”. This goes for positive comparisons too, as your child may feel pressure to constantly “keep up” appearances in order to meet the expectation you set when making such a comparison.
Starting a Jewish daycare program can be one of the most significant phases of a child’s young life and self-confidence can make the whole experience a lot easier on them. Another factor that can help is working with a childcare provider that offers a personalized level of care and strives to meets your child’s individual needs, such as the staff at Advanced Care & Education Daycare. If you have any questions or would like to discuss the services we offer, call 905-764-9555 (our daycare centre in Thornhill) or 905-270-4555 (our daycare centre in Mississauga).