If you have no confidence in self, you are twice defeated in the race of life.
– Marcus Garvey
Should your kid be more confident in him/herself? Continually, I’ve witnessed confidence issues with kids. Symptoms of these issues are as follows: contentious parental and sibling relationships, academic issues, negative self-talk or social ineptness.
In my life (in many seasons), I’ve experienced confidence issues. One such time was in 1992. I started my first full-time job in Cupertino, California at Hewlett-Packard as a software development engineer. At the time, I was very excited, but very unsure of myself. As a result, I was useless for the first 6 months. It wasn’t until Craig Fairchild (my first professional mentor) helped me overcome the job obstacles at hand. Once this happened, I began to blossom.
This taught me a valuable lesson. Without confidence, you’re no good to yourself or anyone else. I emphasize to parents (all the time) to guard their kid’s confidence like they’re guarding a vault.
One of the best ways to protect your kid’s confidence is to teach him/her self-leadership.
By self-leadership, I’m referring to the following:
- Valuing themselves and others
- Having a positive self-image
- Showing compassion to others
- Persevering in the midst of adversity
- Creating a daily routine for success
Encourage your kid to apply these self-leadership principles! It could make all the difference in the world.
