Self Esteem

Challenge

• Does your child often seem self-critical or continually beat themselves up?
• Is your child comparing themselves negatively to others, or believe they are not as good as other kids?
• Do they think and talk of the times they fail, rather than when they succeed?
• Do they lack confidence or doubt they can do things well?

Kids with low self-esteem often feel unsure of themselves. As a result, they may not do as well as they could. Self-esteem issues, particularly with children or teenagers, are common, and can be very damaging to their self-worth, confidence, and mindset. Having low self-esteem can make a child/teenager feel worthless, ugly, unintelligent and unlovable, amongst other things. These issues can develop into depression, anxiety, and eating disorders, if left untreated.

Option

Seeing your child battling with issues around self-esteem and self-confidence is distressing, but there is still hope. There are a number of effective, evidence-based treatments and therapies available for dealing with low self-esteem in children and teenagers. These can include fun and interactive exercises.

A lot can be done to support, guide and assist you and your child. This can include developing skills to tackle self-esteem issues and enhance self-confidence, including implementing social and communication skills training. Individual and or Family Therapy can be helpful.