Fearing the worst for our children is something we parents do. In this imperfect world, circumstances and strangers can discourage, frighten, harm, and endanger our children. Children don’t have to bear the fear of a dangerous world and parents don’t have to build an insulating shelter around them. Building confidence and teaching strong coping skills to face many dangers is the best defense because it empowers children.
Self-esteem Our self-perceptions or what we feel and believe about ourselves forms the basis of our self-esteem. Our attitudes, motives, and behaviors are influenced by our definitions of ourselves, and our emotional judgment is greatly affected by this.
Qualities like self-respect, pride, self-confidence, self-confidence, and independence are all part of self-esteem. Experts say that self-esteem develops during childhood and continues to develop as we are changed by various experiences and social interactions that we encounter.
To guarantee the child’s right to personal security, the first step is to increase the child’s self-esteem. Distancing the child from physical harm comes second. Teaching children self-protection skills and teaching families to recognize potential unsafe situations are areas in which programs have been developed. Children feel good about themselves when they know their self-esteem helps them deal with threats and signs of danger. Positive attitudes and communication skills are best developed when a child has good self-esteem. Children will grow up and pass these things on to their children.
Having a positive relationship with teachers and parents forms the foundation of a child’s self-esteem. Every time a child achieves a milestone and hears praise, such as “Great job!” or “Wonderful!” from a parent, an ‘I can do it!’ attitude is fostered in that child. A child’s first concept of success comes from such positive feedback, and the result is a healthy self-perception.
Although they are very good, it takes more than praise and positive reinforcement to make a child feel better about himself. Understanding, love and care given in abundance are also very important. If a child doesn’t feel loved, he or she may still have low self-esteem even though he or she seems confident and happy otherwise. On the other hand, a child may have low self-esteem because he feels incompetent and inadequate despite being pampered and loved at home. Therefore, it is clear that a balance is necessary.
A healthy self-perception comes from receiving positive messages and being included in constructive communication. To encourage ‘I can do it!’ of his son. attitude, try these tried and true tips.
1. Keep “Don’ts” to a minimum. Use positive language to express your requests. Doubt is the result of hearing sentences with too many negative words.
2. Let the children finish their treats. Try not to interrupt, as interruptions in your train of thought can make you forget what you were saying. This can make the child feel insignificant and their ideas not worth listening to.
3. Maintain good eye contact. When you give your children your full attention, you are showing them a good model of conversation. This shows that what they are saying matters to you and that you are also being a positive role model.
4. Make the conversation a two-way street. Agree on who will speak first and who will speak later. While it is important for parents to encourage children to talk about their feelings and ideas, they must also learn to talk back. Children must learn that they will not understand anything that is said if everyone is talking at the same time.
5. Maintain a calm, uncritical and non-irritated attitude when giving an explanation. Keep your “talk” short. Use words that children easily understand, telling them what they should or shouldn’t do, and why they should or shouldn’t do it. Maintaining a calm tone also prevents them from panicking.
6. Criticism still needs to be given. We should not shy away from discussing bad behavior and shortcomings that we notice and learn from. Clear explanations should be given as to why certain actions are not acceptable. Children should be encouraged to consider ways to avoid repeating unwanted actions in the future.
smart thinking A child’s spirit is strengthened by facing challenges and overcoming them. Although parents want to fully protect their children from difficulties and threats, this would cause more harm than good. We have to admit that adversity will pass. The best way to protect our children from harm is to teach them to be careful and intelligent in their thinking.
Practicing imaginary situations is a good way to sharpen children’s thinking skills. It is important that children feel that they have discovered the reasons to avoid possible dangers. Children and parents can have arguments in this area. They need to think for themselves and develop good problem solving skills. Parents should not only tell children what to do, but let children come up with these solutions first, and then parents can provide guidance when needed.
It is not possible to control what our children do every minute. However, we can encourage them to think about safety early in their lives. By doing this, we can trust them more to be accountable for their actions and for their safety now and as they grow into adults.
Below are some potential danger scenes and some preventative tips.
Bully Alert: Children who can’t seem to defend themselves and who are shy, quiet, and often lonely are picked on by bullies. Children who believe that their self-esteem and dignity are not important and have a low self-concept are the most frequent victims of bullies. To make matters worse, children who are bullied are often afraid to tell their parents. Sometimes this is because they fear their parents will see them as weak, and often because they believe their parents won’t do anything about it.
What you can do: Teaching children the lesson of give and take will help children deal with bullies and prevent them from being bullied. By learning that treating people the way they want to be treated, children also learn that relationships work like two-way streets, give and take. They will begin to understand that there are many reasons why people act the way they do. Asking children questions that call attention to their feelings and those of others also helps. Among these questions are:
What do you think is the reason bullies feel like they have to mess with others?
Are there other reasons?
What do you imagine a stalker might be thinking or feeling?
How would you feel if someone bullied you?
If you are intimidated, what might be your response or action?
By fostering an atmosphere of empathy, children learn to value their self-esteem and that of others in the home. Children’s experts believe that children should be aware of their rights to be treated with dignity and respect. Tolerating cruelty in any form, whether it be cruel jokes in real life or as a form of entertainment, is not something they should feel expected of them.
Stranger Danger: “Don’t talk to strangers” isn’t always the best advice. If parents break this rule all the time, like at school, in the grocery store, and in line at the theater, it’s unreasonable to expect our children not to break it. Children need to learn that most of the adults they meet are good people and can often help them in emergencies.
What can you do: Children need to be taught to pay attention to their instincts. When they feel something isn’t right or they don’t feel safe, children should be encouraged to pay attention to the voice in their minds, they don’t need to go through anything that doesn’t feel right. In order for children to have a safety net, we need to tell our children about adults who can help them, such as police officers, security guards, store clerks with name tags, a person manning an information booth in a location public or mothers with children. .
The next step is to teach the correct way to deal with a stranger. Often a stranger posing as a friend of a child’s parents will claim that one or both parents are sick or injured and have asked them to pick up the child. This is a common trick used to try to kidnap a child. In order for a child to learn what to do in situations like this, let him imagine himself in this type of situation, then ask the following questions:
If someone you don’t know tells you that mom or dad sent him or her to school and you should get in the car, what would you do?
Would you go to a security guard, your teacher, or the principal?
If the stranger grabs you, what would you do?
When waiting for mom or dad to pick you up after school, what would be the safest thing to do?
Would you think the principal’s office or with the teacher in the classroom would be the safest place?
Children should be taught that if a stranger tries to grab them, they should yell for help and run, make loud noises, kick the stranger, and yell things like “You’re not my dad!” or “You are not my mommy!”. It is very important to teach children from a very young age why they should never go with any adult, stranger or friend, unless they have parental permission.
