How to cultivate children\’s self-confidence? Don’t miss these 4 great times

\”What is the most fundamental reason why people are not confident?\” This is a question asked by netizens on Zhihu. Netizen Karen Liu said in her answer: \”A person\’s confidence or lack of confidence is mostly determined by the childhood experiences brought by his family of origin.\” This coincides with what I thought. Feelings of confidence come from thinking that you are loved and accepted. The most important of these is feeling loved, accepted and supported by family during childhood, when self-confidence is formed. The famous developmental psychologist Erikson proposed in the \”Eight Stages of Personality Development Theory\” that personality formation and growth problems encountered in four periods from birth to school age are all related to the establishment of self-confidence. If parents and children can solve specific growth problems well in these four stages, the children will gain confidence and self-esteem. In infancy (0-1 years old), when a newborn arrives for the first time, the most important growth issue to be solved during this period is to build trust in the world. A person who has trust in the world will be positive and optimistic. They have confidence in themselves and the world and will not be easily defeated by despair and setbacks. To help the baby build trust, the mother\’s care should be loving and consistent. In this way, the child will not worry about gains and losses, and \”Mom is always by my side to meet my needs\” will become his or her belief. Slowly, this belief will expand, and you will get the feeling that the world is safe and full of love. Therefore, helping children build a sense of trust in infancy can help them gain confidence, make them optimistic and full of hope. This can lay the foundation for building self-confidence. Early Childhood (1-3 years old) In early childhood, one of the obvious characteristics of children is their increased autonomy. Unlike babies, young children have the ability to act independently and think independently. During this period, the most important growth issue to be solved is to correctly guide the child\’s self-awareness. During this period, if the parents blindly take care of everything and let the children completely lose the power of control, the children will become dependent; if the parents do not help at all, the children\’s abilities will be limited and they will easily suffer setbacks and constantly experience a sense of uselessness. Therefore, in order to help young children establish their autonomy, it is most important for parents to provide gentle support, allowing children to have a certain degree of autonomy and yet providing support. In this way, children will have sufficient self-control and successful experience, which is conducive to the establishment of self-confidence. Early school age (3-5 years old) The early school age is when children’s creativity and imagination explode. The main task during this period is to help children establish the initiative to create their own unique life. If parents do not support their children\’s seemingly \”childish and irrational\” innovative behaviors, the children will feel frustrated and easily lose their self-confidence in breakthroughs and creations. When you grow up, you are likely to have no ambition, be very submissive, and stay in a narrow circle. During this period, it is recommended that parents encourage their children\’s curiosity and exploratory behavior, provide opportunities to participate in various novel activities, and patiently answer their questions. In this way, children will continue to take the initiative to create and innovate, achieve goals, and experience the joy of success. Self-confidence will naturally be improved. Children of school age (6-12 years old) develop rapidly in intelligence, and school has become a place for them to develop their intelligence and acquire skills. thisDuring this period, the main task of children was to experience the joy of completing their studies through diligence. When they achieve academic results, they will feel the pleasure brought by hard work, which makes them confident in living and working independently in the future. When children first enter school, they are almost always diligent. But different academic performance gives them different feelings about diligence. At this time, in order to maintain their sense of diligence and self-confidence, the encouragement of parents, peers, and teachers is crucial. Although they may encounter objective academic setbacks, the recognition of others can still make them think that diligence is useful. Therefore, it is recommended that parents actively encourage children during this period, especially in learning. Let them gain a sense of diligence and have higher confidence in living and working independently in the future!