As a parent, confidence is one of the most important life skills that you can teach your child. When kids are confident about themselves, they’re more likely to have a growth mindset -- motivated to take on new challenges and can cope with and learn from their mistakes even through adulthood.

Below, we cover 6 methods you could use to successfully raise a confident child.

1. Win or lose, appreciate their effort

Winning or losing is not the most important outcome, but rather their constant effort throughout the journey. Perseverance is a crucial life skill that teaches them to get up everytime they fall down -- and that’s essentially what being confident is all about.

Thus, appreciate their effort, no matter how big or small they may be.

2. Give them a chance to fail

Let your child try out new experiences and things in life. Even if they fail at it, it’s not the end of the world.

Failure is something that they, and you, shouldn’t be afraid of. In fact, let your kids fail and use their mistakes as building blocks for them to grow and learn from. After all when learning something new, being hands on and going through trial and error is more effective than just telling them what should be done.

So try not to be too overprotective and allow them to mess up every now and then. Be supportive despite their failures so that they see the virtue of not giving up.

3. Let them make age-appropriate decisions

It’s understandable that parents would want to make decisions that they think are best for their children. However, raising confident children means letting them make decisions that are appropriate for their age.

When you allow your children to have some input in some minor life decisions, they can begin to feel that their opinions are valued and that they have a say in how things evolve around them. Constant intervention might undermine a child's confidence and prevent him from learning to find their voice.

4. Let them tackle challenges

As a parent, your role is to guide them on how to navigate the world around them as well as equip them with the necessary skills to face challenges.

By helping them step out of their comfort zone -- teaching them that no matter how scary something looks, they can conquer it -- this gives them the confidence to face bigger challenges in the future.

When they have conquered a challenge, don’t forget to acknowledge it and cheer them on!

5. Teach them how to set and achieve goals

Raising confident children includes teaching them about goal setting. Doing this helps your child to learn that they’re able to turn their dreams into reality.

Start with small goals, such as finishing a book they have started, or starting an art project. Then you can slowly get them moving to bigger goals such as achieving that Grade 8 certificate in piano (if that’s what they want). Doing this equips them with the skills to achieve goals in life.

6. Let them try new things

Letting your child explore their interests not only helps them build a sense of self-identity but also lets them gain confidence. One of the ways this can be done is through engaging in sports activities especially during their schooling years. Doing this can have a positive impact on their self-esteem, according to this study.

By engaging in challenging activities such as sports, dance, or even playing in a band, children feel better about themselves. How so, you may ask?

During these activities, they experience the support of a team and also how to engage in teamwork, as well as receive kind and encouraging words from their coach. It has been shown that social support is important in the self-esteem levels youths have.

Most importantly, giving them the opportunity to work on their interests and getting better at this gives them confidence that they’re able to be proficient in a skill they choose to pour time and effort into.

Boost your child’s confidence through PAL Learning

There are various ways to help boost your child’s confidence, including enrolling them in an enrichment centre such as PAL Learning.

PAL Learning’s mission is to help primary school children achieve success by providing them with the right resources and learning materials. Over time, as your child gains more knowledge and learns about critical thinking, this gives them the confidence to tackle problems in school, and eventually, in life.

Contact us today to find out more about our enrichment programmes in subjects such as Science, Math, and English!