By Elisa Abbott
We live in a time where stereotypes about genders and the abilities of children can be heavily impacted by the beliefs of those around them. Inevitably this affects their interests as well as their opinions of themselves, and while girls might be confident and bubbly at a young age, they can lose their trust in themselves as they grow older.
There are quite a few things a parent, a guardian or a teacher can do in order to help the girls they are around to start building their self-confidence and grow into confident women..
Help her find and work on their interests
Women throughout the centuries have been considered weaker than men. Young girls base their whole life choices and careers based on what society considers a girl capable of, instead of allowing each individual to explore their own capabilities and talents without external influence.
A critical way through which any young girl will have the opportunity to develop her interests and find exactly what she’s good at is through participating in various group activities. By coming in contact with other people their age, young girls will be able to see exactly how others behave and whether their interests coincide with theirs.
Whether a girl has an interest in math or programming, these interests should be supported and not perceived as something only boys can be good at. By putting a limit on what they can do, girls will not feel confident about their skills even if they are truly good at something which would otherwise be considered a boy’s hobby.
Also, it is a good idea to motivate your daughters/nieces/sisters to earn some certificates in things they enjoy doing from a young age, whether that is an online designing or painting course or a new language. These can even prove useful in the future when they will need to use them when applying for college as additional skills.
Show them how to love their bodies
One of the things a mom needs to do in order to help her daughter build self-confidence is to be a good example of body positivity. Most young girls struggle with their body image and they tend to adopt false standards of beauty due to online influencers and famous people.
The best thing a mother can do is to always provide their daughters with a positive example in regards to self-love and body positivity. When a girl sees her own mother be comfortable in her own skin she too will accept her imperfections and unique traits as a good thing rather than something to be ashamed of.
Support their own individual style
One of the ways through which a girl can build her self-esteem is through her own unique style, whether that is in regards to clothing or the way she styles her hair. Something every mother should do is to support the style of her daughter even if it might seem extreme and out of the ordinary.
Societies tend to have a very established image of what a woman should look like and anyone who is outside of that norm is considered unusual and strange. What many people fail to see is the fact that a person’s style is an immediate form of self-expression and that each person might feel confident in different clothes.
By supporting their individual preferences and style, girls are able to experiment with different colors, habits, and appearances until they can safely find what expresses them the most. One’s self-esteem roots from the way they view themselves and by feeling comfortable with their skin they will be able to appreciate themselves and their individuality even further.
Don’t focus your praise on their appearance
There are many people who tend to compliment girls based on their appearance, focusing on how cute they look or how shiny their hair is. In reality, there are things far more important than a good posture or a pretty pair of shoes.
What matters the most when it comes to building a girl’s self-esteem, is her knowing that her skills don’t go unnoticed. Praising her problem-solving abilities, her memory and how she can always come up with innovative ideas is far more useful than any other compliment.
These remarks will help a young girl believe in herself more and understand the fact that she is far more than what her hair or outfit says about her. Believing in her capabilities and ideas is what will help her stand out from a crowd and allow her to be confident about herself in the long-run.
Reward their efforts instead of their performance
While every parent wants their children to succeed, there is one mistakemany make which can have devastating effects on their daughters’ self-esteem. Focusing on the outcome of their efforts rather than the effort itself will not help your girls build confidence and learn to appreciate the journey to their end goal.
Instead, rewarding their hard work with some positive and motivational words will help them work harder and seek those rewarding words every step of the way. This is the best motivator for them to build their self-esteem as they will learn to focus on enjoying the learning or working process instead of focusing on how good the outcome was.
Building confidence one step at a time
Building self-esteem might not happen overnight but there are many ways through which you can help your girls become more confident and believe in their own powers and abilities. Our society is built around certain opinions about certain people but there is no reason for the younger generations of girls to continue believing some archaic opinions without true reason.
The tips mentioned in this article will help you find new ways through which you will be able to implement your child’s or student’s daily lives, and allow them to build their self-esteem and help them appreciate themselves and their abilities, without doubting how much there are able to achieve.
About Elisa:
Elisa Abbott is a writer, editor, translator. Her extensive experience is influenced by her various interests and her constant motivation to upgrade her education and work biography. Besides working at PickWriters as one of the key figures in their German translation service sector, she keeps working as a freelance writer. As she explains, writing has always been her passion so she uses it as a tool to share her knowledge and experience.
