Building Confidence in Your Preschoolers

Right from birth, your child is learning new skills like making eye contact with you or learning to use his or her voice to cry. Not only is skill-building essential to move through developmental milestones, so is confidence building.

To thrive, children need to trust in their own capabilities, while at the same time knowing they can handle not being successful at a skill, challenge or task. It’s through practice and mastery of a skill and rebounding from failure that children build healthy confidence.

Here are some helpful and healthy ways to build your child’s confidence at a young age:

Model confidence in yourself. Take on a new task, be positive, and acknowledge your own anxiety.

Don’t get upset about mistakes. Children are just learning. Remember the process over end product is important.

Allow your child to fail & embrace imperfections. No one is perfect. Trial and error is how children learn best.

Assist your child in finding their passion and interest. Do they like music, sports, books, etc.?

Celebrate their effort with detailed and specific praise. Example: “Susie, I loved how you followed directions, picked up your toys and put them in the baskets. That was so helpful!”

Expect them to want to pitch in and help. Assign simple chores your child can do like setting the table, putting away their clothes, feeding the pet, etc.

Show them they are loved no matter the outcome.

Set them up for success. Be prepared and organized and give them something you know they will be successful at doing.