The Importance of Self-Esteem in Child Development Essay

Children are very complex, unique and varied individuals whose genetics, connections and backgrounds all perform significant roles in their emotional development (Wilson, 2003). The genetic blueprint a child inherits from its parents may plot a course for development but the environment and the influences within can affect how the child is shaped, how they connect with and are perceived by others and how their emotions are or are not expressed. Wilson (2003) points out emotions as an experience that is linked to cognitive interpretation, context, subjective feeling, physical reaction and behavioural expression. Campos, Campos, and Barrett (1989) suggest emotions are processes of establishing, maintaining, or disrupting the relations between the person and the internal or external environment, when such relations are significant to the individual.

A person with a strong sense of self esteem will have a more positive outlook on life and will be strong enough to handle difficult situations through life.

2.1. Describe with examples the kinds of influences that affect children and young people’s development, including:

And now, her self-confidence and her self-esteem are so much better.”Nobody's perfect but When you let your kids go to school or out in public you want your kids to fit in and you also don't want anyone to make fun of him/her. Kids with good self esteem feel valued and accepted feel confident that they can do what's expected, feel proud of a job well done, think good things about themselves and feel prepared for everyday challenges.When children feel good about themselves, it sets them up for success — in everything from school to friendships. Positive feelings like self-acceptance or self-confidence help kids try new challenges, cope with mistakes, and try again. Taking pride in their abilities and accomplishments helps kids do their

Considering the fact that children have no idea of how the world or the society works, they are not 100% conscious of how they behave in front of others. Emotions play a vital role in their wellbeing and development. In children, overall wellbeing is affected significantly by how one deal with their emotional needs (Hood, 2009).

I believe it is possible that we focus too much on heightening children’s self-esteem. From my perspective, I would only heightening children’s self-esteem to build self-confidence, help children to be able to discover their true identity, and prevent negativity of children’s self-worth. The hazards could be the result of children to become too self-love, or become arrogant, which could be hard for children to critically evaluate themselves. In other words, if children become too self-absorbed with themselves, this could become a disadvantage to not be able to identify mistakes. The alternative would be to teach children what self-esteem means, to keep an open mind to be able to accept themselves and how their actions could positively and negatively affect them. Another way to think of this is to have an equal balance of self-esteem and the worth of others as a community.

the other week, one of that cousins of mine, called me and she was just filled with too much pain and

As children grow and develop during the school-age phase of life, they begin to develop a sense of self-concept. This is when they begin to evaluate themselves and their achievements. They will begin to compare themselves to their peers. According to Edelman, Kudzma, and Mandle (2014), self esteem, self control, and a child’s perception of their body will all influence a child’s overall self-concept. The child begins to understand that he or she is difference from other people, and they will display a new sense of autonomy. The child will develop and demonstrate various behaviors and emotions during this time. They may also over estimate their abilities early on during the school-age phase and it is important to provide them support.

All over the world, there are some people experiencing social and emotional problems due to their low self-esteem. Self-esteem is the way that every individual feel or value his/her own self. In the last few decades, the way people approached self-esteem has changed. In the beginning, parents would praise their kids for everything they do by telling them what a great of a job they are doing and in sports, everyone would get a trophy even without keeping the score. However, when people started to realize they were wrong, coaches started to give trophies to the best improved or the best effort and parents kept praising their kids because that's their job, but they praised them for the effort that they made they started to focus on praising them

A comprehensive aptitude of self-regulation, empathy, independence and resilience is crucial to establishing high emotional literacy (Andrew, 2015, p.359). Based “on a large and diverse range of experiences”, such social and emotional understanding is fundamental in developing a secure base and resilient sense of self-concept; with emotional connection strategic in overcoming adversity (Andrew, 2015; Dowling, 2014). Such emotional capacity to regulate feelings is strongly influenced through primary attachments, with children often mirroring observed behaviours, whether positive or negative (Dowling, 2014). Thus, early experiences of a supportive family environment, endorsing the expression and discussion of emotions, positively promotes self-assertion

Parents help to teach positive ways of dealing with negative emotions to their children by positively reacting and coping with their life. However when children do not have that role model, they tend to become emotionally insecure, which means not being able to express their emotions in a positive way or at all. Studies showed that

There are multiple factors in a child’s development. Parents have a responsibility, as well as a privilege, to contribute to every milestone. Most parents stress over physical and mental stages so much so that play-time is ignored. By making decisions that sacrifice play parents hinder their social development. Parents must take action and encourage their youth to play more, before childhood is lost forever.

“They can run for a long period without getting tired and are capable to run faster than older elementary students.”

In most cases, children with low self-esteem feel that the important adults and peers in their lives do not accept them, do not care about them very much, and would not go out of their way to ensure their safety and well-being. Negative self-esteem is related to low self-confidence, insecurity, underachievement, anxiety, depression, acting-out behavior, sleep problems and being a loner (Yarnell, 1999).

This semester in Child Development has helped me a great deal. I came into this class wanting to be a Child Development teacher at the high school level. I am leaving this class with the same ambition to become a Child Development teacher. I have learned so much by taking this class and I know it will all be helpful in the future once I am standing at the front of a classroom. Also, just by watching the way Mary teaches the class, I have learned things that I want to take into my own style of teaching.