Inculcate Self-love in kids! By Nidhi Singh
Inculcate Self-love in kids!
“Loving yourself is not vanity, it’s sanity. “-Katrina Mayer
Self-love is a state of appreciation for oneself and loving your own self. It essentially means having a high regard for your own well-being and happiness. It strives to succeed in taking good care of your own needs and not sacrificing your well-being to please others. It’s a practice one must constantly work at. Relying on external sources for love and compassion might be short-lived and sometimes it could be unfulfilled. That is why we should all be focusing on loving ourselves before anyone else.
The journey of self-love has the ability to impact our parenting and in turn can affect our child’s self-esteem. Young kids and young adults need, more than ever, to be made aware of self-love. With everything these days being online and with a constant influx of social media (and its various evils), there is an immediate urgency in re-affirming the values of self-esteem. The children feel grown up and ready to face the world but the seed of self-love will make sure they know they are loved.
Self-love is no magic. It’s an attitude and it takes perseverance. It will not happen over-night even when we start teaching our kids about loving themselves. For kids to believe in the magic and power of self-love, we parents must follow it whole-heartedly. When kids are raised in a self-love driven family, they are made aware of the fact that they do not depend on others to be happy. That feeling is empowering and is a potential winner. If children grow up learning how to love themselves, they grow up happy, healthy, compassionate and loving adults.
Ways to teach self-love to kids:
- Make them feel important- when your kids want your attention, give it to them. Look them in the eye, be genuinely interested in what they’re talking about. It will take only a minute or two of your time but it will have a positive lasting impact on them. Say how much you love them, often. Try to focus on their good and it would be precious if they would hear you praising them.
- Focus on strengths- apt attention should be on their strengths and divert from their weaknesses. Focus should be to enhance strengths. It leads to improved behavior as well.
- Lead by example-modelling a positive, honest attitude does influence your children. When you do your work, chores and take pride in doing well, you indirectly teach your children the same.
- Avoid harsh criticism-harsh words are not motivating. They cause immense negativity in children and it hampers their own worth. They should be corrected with patience and care.it will immediately boost them and they will feel worthy of self-love.
- Let them learn- at every age, kids should learn new things. From eating, getting dressed, reading, biking as and when they learn, it adds to their self-esteem and thereby forging self-love within.
Put yourself at the top of your to-do list every single day and the rest will fall into place-anonymous.
Benefits of self-love for kids:
- Kids feel more loved and accepted if they know of self-love.
- They are more positive and more confident.
- They feel proud of whatever their achievements may be.
- They are better equipped to cope with their failures and mistakes.
- They fare better at school, with friends and home.
- They are aware of the fact how they should be treated as young adults when in a relationship.
- They grow up and lead an enjoyable and content life.
To raise healthy and happy children is a dream every parent sleeps with. To say that imparting knowledge about self-love should be a primary thought every parent and teacher could instill, is the least we can do. This is the need of the hour.
Nidhi Singh
