Family & Pets
7 ways to build confidence in your grandchildren
If you want to help your grandchild to succeed, instilling confidence in them is a great start. A confident child will try new things, make friends more easily, and have faith in themselves to do anything they set their mind to.
To build up their confidence, try some of these ideas.
- Don’t ask if they won or lost: Ask about how they played, or whether they were happy with their efforts. Kids sport is about joining in and trying their best, not winning or losing.
- Help them practice their skills: If they are good at swimming, offer to drive them to training. If they love art, offer to sit for them while they do your portrait. Be supportive of their talents and this will help them develop naturally, without putting pressure on them.
- Try not to solve all their problems: Instead of breaking up every small argument between kids, sometimes there is value in stepping back and letting them figure it out on their own. Kids learn resilience and compromise in this way.
- Help them stay curious: Kids are always asking “why?” so encourage this by setting up experiments or special activities that teach them how to solve problems. Ask them to help you in the garden, or to help you with technology that they aren’t necessarily familiar with.
- Take them to new places: Get kids out of their comfort zone and take them to art galleries, elderly relatives houses, hardware stores and even bowling alleys. Trying new things with a trusted adult is a great way to build up their confidence.
- Pass on a skill: Teach a child something that you are good at – it might be fishing, cooking, woodwork or golf. Sharing your skills as the teacher (and even allowing them to teach you a thing or two) develops their abilities to listen and try new activities.
- Encourage self-reliance: If they forgot to do their project, don’t stay up late doing it for them. If they left their sports clothes at home, don’t drop them off for them. Kids need to learn that there are consequences for their actions, and you stepping in to solve every problem isn’t going to help.
Did you have someone in your life that helped develop your confidence? We would love to hear your story.
Related links:
10 factors that influence how you grandparent
7 motivational tactics from grandkids
5 tips for disagreeing grandparents and parents