How to boost your child's confidence | Maragon Private School

Self-confidence comes from a sense of proficiency. A confident child needs a positive and realistic perception of his or her abilities. Your support and encouraging words can help develop their confidence, especially when you refer to your child's specific efforts or abilities like acknowledging and praising your child for improving from one test to the next. Consider your compliments and keep them meaningful by giving praise when praise is due.

Our student’s longing to give back to society and their sense of social responsibility provided an opportunity to practise relationship building skill sets through the Gateway Outreach programme and contributing to the charity drives on offer at Maragon. These projects assist with the understanding that in the real world they will be subject to finding out that you are not special to everybody all the time and you can’t just have something because you want it. 

Our students need social skills that are missing due to the over use of social media. The challenge that our children face is that they are growing up in a digital world, which make our students good at putting filters on things. They are good at showing people that life is amazing even though they are unhappy. 

Our academic programme continues to assist our students to live purposeful, self-regulated lives through the promotion of problem solving and the encouragement to strive to be the best that they can be. Our subject choice information evenings and rocking Road Show, help students to early on identify possible career paths, helping our students to stay focussed, as they envision themselves doing something important or fulfilling. Confidence is gained by the thought process of being a contributing member of society rather that of being the stereo typed success. Hence the freedom to change direction is encouraged. Maragon has a wide variety of sporting, cultural and service activities which encourages our students to find something that they really love. Students who have a passion feel proud of their expertise and are more likely to be successful in other areas of their life. 

Unconditional love builds a strong foundation for confidence. It's natural to want to prevent your child from feeling discouraged, or making mistakes, however, it is important not feel obliged to always rescue them. Children need to take responsibility for their actions. We need to teach them that they are free to choose but there are consequences for their choices. Children are more confident when they know who is in charge and what to expect. Even if your child thinks the rules are too strict, they will have confidence in what they can and can't do when rules are set and enforced consistently. 

Our students need to know that failure is a learning opportunity, however, guide your child to set reasonable goals to help avoid feelings of failure. If the goal is a stretch, discuss some reachable short-term steps along the path. Talk about the skills and talents and efforts needed for you to achieve those accomplishments. In the same conversation, you can remind your child of the skills he or she possesses and how they can be developed and used. No one succeeds at everything all the time. There will be setbacks and failures, criticism and pain. Use these hurdles as learning experiences rather than dwelling on the events as failures or disappointments. Self-confident children are willing to try new things without fear of failure.

Encourage your child to participate in extra-mural activities. They learn to identify their strengths, accept or strengthen their weaknesses, handle defeat, expand their circle of friends and learn teamwork. Respect and encourage your child's interests, even if they don't interest you. Praise your child when they accomplish something in their promising pursuits. 

Confidence in relationships is key to your child's self-confidence. The most important initial relationship is the loving parent-child relationship. Help your child learn to maintain an inner core of confidence when someone else's actions affect them. 

The partnership, made up of student, parent and school, faces the difficult task of teaching our students that the things that really matter in life, like faith, love, patience, job fulfilment, joy, love of life, self-confidence, and many others, takes time. Success is not instant gratification, it takes time. A united and joint effort is required to implement the structures, systems and processes mentioned to assist our students through the difficult journey called “High School”, empowering them with the required skill-set to have confidence and succeed.