One of the greatest gifts parents can provide their children is the nurturing of self-confidence. It is a great gift because as parents teach their kids to become more confident they are also instilling the ability to face challenges, have self-belief, and showcase resilience.
While there are several methods parents can use to encourage self-acceptance, there are few quite like engaging in exciting activities around the house.
So how do parents turn ordinary and mundane playtime into a very effective confidence-building exercise?
1. Why is Confidence Important and How is it Attained Through Playtime
Children who have a certain level of confidence are likely to try things that can be considered challenging, be able to overcome challenges, and build good relationships with others.
However, confidence is not an innate skill, rather, it is cultivated.
Play can serve as an important element in the formation of this character as it inspires children to take risks, make decisions, and if all fails, enjoy the process.
It is essential to mention that through play, children are capable of devising ways to learn such skills as independently:
- Self problem-solving skills
- Cooperation/ social interaction
- Ability to risk without the fear of being judged
- Emotion regulation
Success and future failures in a play earn them a life lesson which builds their self-worth. Parents can reinforce those skills while creating beautiful moments by incorporating playtime into their everyday activities.
2. Set Up Play Space To Enhance Confidence
Setting the right environment impacts the overall engagement from children to a play. Why not set up a play area where children can freely experiment with their imagination?
Here are some ideas on how to make it a confidence-boosting play space:
- Use An Orderly But Loose Structure: A well-defined space that is clutter-free with easily accessible containers enables kids to make selections thus gaining ownership of their play.
- Include Only Non-Expiring Toys: Look out for costumes, building blocks, art materials, puzzles, and the like and these gadgets will enable kids to figure things out on their own more
- Encourage Their Obsession: Does your kid enjoy dinosaurs, space, or food? Then somehow make it incorporated into their play area so they can explore and develop their creativity.
When a kid enjoys the space they are in, they become more adventurous in trying out activities which encourages them to try new things.
3. Play-Based Activities to Foster Confidence
When building confidence, activities that stimulate imagination, autonomy and healthy socialization should be chosen. The following are some simple activities which involve play and may be done in the home environment.
Role Games and Costume Play
Role-playing and parent/ child games are fun as it allows kids to learn and explore different scenarios and emotions in a relaxed and playful setting.
When children dress up as teachers, firefighters, or any other character, they are given the opportunity to adopt various roles that foster empathy, resilience, and creativity.
Benefits:
- It fosters empathy and acquisition of social skills.
- It enhances decision making and problem solving tasks.
- It enhance one’s self-esteem through narration and self-presentation.
How to Do It:
You can easily make one’s “role play” by filling a rack with old clothes or irrelevant items. They can select different characters and also participate in the act so as to demonstrate how one can face challenges and use creative thinking.
Arts and Crafts for Self-Expression
Drawing painting and basic crafts are some of the creative activities that let kids express themselves and also make them feel accomplished.
Such kids art artwork when finished gives every child the opportunity to undertake and complete a project which automatically boosts one’s confidence.
Benefits:
- It promotes individualism as ideas are expressed differently.
- It enables completion of tasks as each project gives a sense of achievement.
- Teaches patience and persistence.
How to Do It:
Have a box that contains various arts and crafts supplies such as coloring materials, glue, papers, among others.
When they are working on their projects, allow them to be in charge and avoid the temptation of wanting to tell them how to do things. Appreciate the child for the novelty of their creation.
Physical Challenges to Build Resilience
After building their confidence with basic skills, the area of athletic development games and physically active play is varied.
From a simple obstacle course in the back yard to yoga in the living room, children learn to engage their bodies and find the joy of mastering an activity.
Benefits:
- Improves both tenacity and resilience.
- Enhances coordination and fine motor skills.
- Encourages through gradual physical success
How to Do It:
Design a mini obstacle course from furniture, cushions and any other items you have at home. Encourage children to try to go around the course you have trimmed down and praise them for doing so.
Each time they try, they get physically stronger coupled with some mental fortitude.
Storytelling and Puppet Shows
Through the casual storytelling, children get to use their fantasies, learn to express their thoughts, and gain the much-needed self-confidence.
Puppet shows especially are effective for children who feel too shy to speak, as these children can perform actions and say words felt, which in reality they would find hard to do.
Benefits:
- Improves the ability to tell stories and speak in front of a large audience.
- Improves creative thinking.
- Assists in understanding and addressing feelings.
How to Do It:
Use socks or make puppets out of paper bags to create a puppet theatre and ask the children to think of their own stories.
Ask them to do performances for the grandparents or video record their performance so that they can later on view how creative they were.
4. Promote Responsibility in Missing Elements in Children’s Games in Easing the Developement of the Child.
The best approach to help a child’s esteem is providing them with responsibilities that in one way or another shows them that they are making a difference.
Make play a busy time for the child by embedding responsibilities within play and making it more engaging.
Pet Care Play
Parents who have pets should encourage their children to play an active role in caring for them because it allows a child to develop. The child can engage in hair dressing, feeding, or even walking the dog if they are of age.
Even if there is no pet in the house, they can act out and carry out the processes of taking care of their toys or dolls or any other stuffed animals.
Benefits:
- It shows accountability and responsibility.
- It enables a sense of capability and trust among kids.
- It develops empathy and the compassion among the young in respect to others.
How to Do It:
Award every child and come up with a pet care schedule or a reward chart showing the activities. Allow children to carry out the task and then congratule them saying they have completed a successful task.
Gardening Adventures
Children will love gardening because it helps them to appreciate the end result of their commitment over a period of time. Seeing the plants grow from seeds is a nice way to show that they are growing and achieving more and more.
Benefits:
- Instills patience and believe that rewards don’t come instantly but through hard work.
- Encourages responsibility through consistent and continuous care.
- Encourages the child’s sense of creation and in them nurturing ability.
How to Do It:
We can start with easy vegetables such as sunflowers or tomatoes, or some herbs. It would be nice to allow them to choose the seeds on their own so that you can explain to them how to take care of the mini-garden.
With every single sprout that emerges, they will feel a sense of achievement over and over again.
5. Encourage the Growth Mindset Using Games
According to one definition popularized by psychologist Carol Dweck, a person with a growth mindset is someone who believes that their intelligence and abilities can be acquired or developed over time and with hard work.
Such a mental model should be trained since it will help a person throughout their lifetime, and it can be pushed forward by playful activities, sometimes called as fun challenges.
Masyado Games that Can Enhance Both Strategy and Persistence
Some children’s games are directed towards problem-solving. These games include puzzles, memory, and building challenges, and as children play these games, they understand that making a mistake is not a problem; it is part of learning something.
If they work hard and see the result at the end, they would eventually come to understand that any skill can be improved with practice.
Benefits:
- Enhances toughness and the ability to adjust to new situations.
- Grows the belief that practice is important and helps in improvement.
- Develops the talent of solving complex problems and perseverance.
How to Do It:
Encourage them to persist, provide tips without offering direct answers, and praise their achievements.
The objective should not be the focal point, rather it should be the process, where effort and creative thinking dare you to be praised.
6. Lead by Example: Modeling Confidence in Everyday Life
Children are very perceptive and pick up a number of skills just by watching adults.
This means that you have to be a model of confident behavior yourself so that there is a greater likelihood that the children will attack their challenges with a positive attitude.
- Let them see how you cope with disappointment by describing how you have been disappointed in life and what you would do to combat such a feeling.
- Speak about your own achievements, no matter how small they are, to highlight the need for self praise and progress.
- Cry of victory, and recount times when you experienced self-doubt, but did not let it stop you from achieving your goals.
By sharing these moments, you not only disarm the sense of dread that comes in the context of building confidence but also reassure them that these moments are indeed achievable.
Final Thoughts
When it comes to children, confidence building is not something that happens overnight; rather, it is a nurturing and gradually developing process that often begins within the household.
Fun-based lessons allow us to provide our children with the opportunity to test their limits and learn how to deal with failures in a protected setting.
Be it through pretend play or arts and crafts or simple physical challenges, every task contributes
