Category Archives: Self-Esteem

Talking to Your Kids About Grades

Belief Systems, Self-Esteem

School is Back in Session

Wow, can you believe summer holidays are over already?  I hope you and your children had an amazing summer.

Now, it’s back to school for the kids and of course we all want our children to do well.  Getting your kids to do their homework, study for tests and in general enjoy school can be quite a task.  As parents, we can inadvertently put excess pressure on our children by how we give praise for their good grades and when the grades aren’t so good the language we use for motivation.  I would like to offer a tool on giving feedback to your kids without the pressure.

How to talk with your kids about grades

School is in session and that means…GRADES!

Whether your kids tend to earn A’s, B’s, C’s, or F’s, kids often define “who they are” based on the grades they receive.

“I’m an A-student”

“I’m not very smart”

“I’m an average student”

Unfortunately, when kids label themselves based on grades, it can have a negative impact on their self-esteem – even for “A-students”.  Why? Continue reading Talking to Your Kids About Grades →

Kids in Action

Self-Confidence, Self-Esteem

Self-Esteem & Self-Confidence

Here are some children I  worked with on units involving –

  • Power Shifting – based on the concept that events are neutral-either good or bad based on the meaning we choose to assign to them.
  • Self-Talk – refers to what we say to ourselves – both verbally and through our thoughts.
  • I Love Me! – developing soaring self-esteem. Facing the world with a belief system of “I am worthy” versus “I am not worthy”.
  • I Believe in Me! – developing unstoppable self-confidence. Facing the world with a belief system of “I can” versus “I can’t”.
  • Overcoming Mistakes – how to learn from mistakes and let them go.
  • Managing Change – how to embrace change and thrive.

I read them a story involving each of the units, discussed the stories with thought provoking questions to get the kids perspective on what their ideas were about each of the character’s challenges in the story, and we did art projects that they would keep to remind them of how to live lives with soaring self-esteem and self-confidence.  We can give our children many things. Self-esteem and self-confidence isn’t something we give them, but we can teach them how to develop it in themselves.  At the end of each unit I gave the parents a re-cap sheet on what their children covered, with the tools and tips to continue working with their children when negative attitudes and self-talk surface.

Self Esteem

Self-Esteem, Uncategorized

Self Esteem Pt. 2

Does Your Child Have Yo-Yo Self-Esteem?

Part 2

In the last article we asked the question, does your child have yo-yo self-esteem?  Recall that Yo-yo self-esteem occurs when children’s self esteem rises and falls with the ups and downs of their lives (i.e. how they did in school, played in their soccer game, etc.).

We talked about how important it is for children to base their self-esteem on who they are and not on what is happening outside of them so that their self-esteem remains intact no matter what is going on in their lives.

Today we’ll learn three additional tips for supporting your kids in developing solid self-esteem that doesn’t rise and fall with the ups and downs of life: Continue reading Self Esteem →

Kids and Risky Behaviors

Self-Esteem, Uncategorized

Kids and Self-Esteem

According to the Global News Winnipeg dated, September 14, 2016 that while smoking rates continue to drop among students, more kids are experimenting with prescription drugs. Marijuana was much more widespread, with 17 per cent of students in Grades 7 to 12 confirming they had gotten high within the past year.

Another alarming trend is the use of of synthetic cannabinoids.  These are man-made chemicals designed to mimic marijuana. Reported use of synthetic cannabinoids jumped from one per cent to four per cent year-over-year, and the drugs now have the third-highest prevalence of past 12-month use among Canadian students in Grades 7 to 12, after alcohol and marijuana.

The other popular way to get high is through the abuse of psychoactive pharmaceuticals (sedatives/tranquilizers, stimulants and prescribed pain relievers), with reported use among highschoolers also sitting at four per cent.

Almost nightly on the news we are hearing about one of the most dangerous drugs to hit the streets, Fentanyl.

Now more than ever it’s time we have open dialogue with our kids. Kids with high self-esteem are a lot less likely to cave into peer pressure regarding drugs, alcohol, and smoking. I have included the news article which you can log into the Global News Winnipeg website to read the complete article to show you that kids are starting these risky behaviors at very young ages. Continue reading Kids and Risky Behaviors →