Building Self-esteem, Resilience and Confidence in your Children
Time and time again studies have shown that resilience, adaptability and confidence are the skills to encourage in our children; providing key cornerstones for early education and beyond. After the experience of home schooling through lockdown I felt that if our children can understand and express their emotions in times of uncertainty, then they are best equipped to learn and develop. As parents, teachers, educators, our role today goes far beyond academia. How do we guide and mentor our children to ensure their wellbeing in the face of challenge? This question is a core focus for the The Golden Circle tutor group. As Hannah Titley, founder of the Golden Circle, explains “although we can’t prevent adversity from occurring, we can prepare children with a toolkit to tackle challenging situations, adapt and navigate change more easily”. Consider that we are the role models are children look to when facing challenges. So read on for The Golden Circle’s top tips and strategies.
The Golden Circle’s top 5 tips to build self esteem, resilience and confidence
Foster a Growth Mindset
Fostering a growth mindset can be a great way to develop confidence and resilience. Parents can encourage a growth mindset by nurturing children’s creativity, providing an opportunity for them to try new things and allowing them to fail. It is important to praise their efforts rather than the results, and explain to children that they will face challenges in both their academic and personal lives. Failure is natural and represents an opportunity to learn and grow. Allowing mistakes and helping them to find a positive outcome will strengthen children’s self-esteem, as they will learn to be proud of their efforts. Using positive language can go a long way, for example:
“I know this didn’t go the way you wanted to, but I am really proud of your effort and hard-work. You should be, too.”
“It’s okay to make mistakes. We all do!”
“What can we learn from this to remember for next time?”
2. Introduce Mindfulness
Mindfulness is all about learning how to calm and control reactions and in recent years, it has become an extremely popular practice amongst people of all ages, thanks to many evidence-based benefits. Introducing mindful practices into children’s everyday life is a fantastic way to help them approach difficult situations with calmness and confidence.
Below are our top tips for introducing mindfulness:
Apps such as Calm and Headspace offer numerous resources dedicated to children which nurture attributes such as positivity, calmness and kindness.
Encourage children to keep a ‘Mindful Journal’ of daily events and the emotions they’ve felt as a result. This will allow them to label their feelings and emotions more accurately.
‘Gratitude Jars’ are a great way to introduce practising gratitude and appreciation into daily life.
Playtime and activities such as Yoga or Pilates combine exercise and calm at the same time. Many Montessori methods also encourage children to become more independent and confident individuals through playing.
3. Encourage Open Communication
Encouraging open and honest communication will nurture children’s relationships with parents and teachers, as well as improving their own well-being. It’s important to reassure them that they have a safe space to express any concerns and to ask for help when they need it. Some examples include:
Actively asking your child about their day and how they’re feeling. Make sure to also give space to negative emotions, for instance: “I can see you’re a little worried/angry/upset. Would you like to talk about anything?”
Respecting their space and allowing them to navigate their feelings on their own until they are ready to talk about it. For example: “It’s okay if you need some alone time, let me know when you’re ready to talk about it. I’m sure together we can find a solution!”
4. Reframe Negative Thinking
Difficult situations can be made worse by negative thought patterns, which also makes it seem like any obstacles are in fact harder to overcome than they are. Reframing negative thinking will help your child to feel more confident and capable in tackling their challenges. Ways to cultivate positive thinking include:
Introducing positive affirmations and asking children what they are grateful for may help to reframe negativity and focus on the positives.
Acknowledging that a task is difficult or that something is frustrating will help them understand that challenges are normal. For example: “I understand that this situation made you feel frustrated/angry/sad”.
Talking about a negative situation and helping them nd the positive outcome will make them feel more confident and tolerant to failure. For instance: “I know this is a frustrating result, but we have still learnt a lot during the process.”
5. Build Problem-Solving Skills
Problem-solving and critical thinking skills will help to boost resilience. Encourage your child to consider a problem, possible solutions and the pros and cons of each. To begin with, they may require some guidance on formulating a well-rounded argument in order to reach the optimal outcome. By challenging and discussing your child’s ideas, this will nurture their ability to think creatively, critically and outside of the box, in turn enabling them to tackle challenges more confidently.
Meet Hannah Titley and Lydia Titley…
Hannah founded The Golden Circle in 2017. In addition to teaching, Hannah has worked as a Researcher for Oxford University and Reform think tank. She is Director of the Home Schooling Association and continues to teach Science at Key Stage 4 and 5. She speaks regularly at education events and provides written commentary for national media including the BBC, The Times, Telegraph and The Guardian. Lydia Titley, joined The Golden Circle team in 2018, as Head of Operations.
What inspired you to launch The Golden Circle?
We set up The Golden Circle in 2017 to be able to offer a personalised and bespoke education. Hannah’s teaching career proved that the mainstream classroom doesn’t provide every student with the right environment to thrive and fulfil their potential. We create programmes of education tailored to each student’s individual needs and interests, without being limited to the national curriculum or boundaries of the classroom. In addition to academic subjects, students have the opportunity to focus on their personal development, extracurricular activities and workplace skills.
What do you love about what you do?
We’re both passionate about the role of inspiring teachers and holistic education. We love collaborating closely with our community of teachers, families and schools to achieve the best outcome for each student. Witnessing their growth and achievements first-hand, and being a part of their educational journey, is undoubtedly the most rewarding part.
What do you do when you’re not working?
As business partners and sisters, we try and schedule in some quality family time whenever we can - with our laptops out of sight!
The Golden Circle is a network of qualified teachers who provide private tuition, professional home schooling and education consultancy. Our educators all have excellent academic records, UK teaching qualifications and a minimum of two years of classroom experience. Each year, we successfully prepare students for Common Entrance and 11+ exams, GCSEs and A Levels, and Oxbridge and Ivy League admissions. Our lessons are designed to inspire a love of learning, build confidence and enable children to full their potential. In addition to traditional academic subjects, we offer co-curricular courses including Mindfulness, Entrepreneurship, Debating and Current Affairs.
For more information about their services, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.