Some Simple Ways to Create a Healthy Self-Image in Your Kids

Helping to build a healthy self-image within your children is a big concern for many parents today.  While it can be difficult to find the balance between building a healthy self-esteem and simply spoiling your child by focusing on their happiness here are some suggestions.  I would welcome others you may have in the comments.

1. Teach them they were created in the image of God (see my post on what this means).  A healthy self-image begins by constant reinforcement that a child is special and unique.  They are different from all the animals and plants.  They are created after the image and likeness of God.
2. Teach them Jesus loves them.  There is a great reason why parents have long sung the song, “Jesus loves me” to their children.  It teaches such a core message that kids need to know.  Jesus died for them on the cross.  Have them memorize John 3:16 so it can be cemented on their heart!
3. Dress them in nice clothes so they can feel good about themselves.   I appreciate my wife doing a great job at this category.  Yesterday, we attended the FHU lectures as a family.  Amanda put the kids in nice clothes for the day.  They weren’t new.  They weren’t name brand, but they looked nice.  We fixed their hair and made them look nice.  All day long people were complimenting us on our “good lookin’ crew.”  Clothes make a difference!  We don’t have to have the newest and nicest, but parents need to teach their kids about hygiene, bodily care, and dressing appropriately.  It helps greatly in kids developing a healthy self-image.
4. Spend time with them playing their games and reading books on their level.  You reinforce your love for them when you do things on their level.  When you spend time with them reading a book, watching a TV show, or playing with a toy.  It says to them they are wanted, valued, and loved.  It communicates that what they care about matters!
5. Show them the joy of responsibility and pride of accomplishing a task with hard-work.  Our kids have responsibility for various duties on the farm.  Sometimes we have to work hard together to accomplish a task; be it fencing, moving animals, or building a trough.  The kids love when they can get an assignment themselves and do it all by themselves.  These tasks build confidence and pride.
6. Shelter them from constant peer pressure and worldly images.  This one applies especially as kids move into the adolescent years when phones and social media become a bigger part of their lives.  Parents should create boundaries for their children so they aren’t constantly being exposed to peer pressure.  Also we must guard against the negative effects of worldly influences in the media and TV.  If girls, for example, are always seeing images of scantly-clad models and sexually provocative characters on TV they are going to be impacted by this as they compare their own bodies and consider how they should view themselves.  Parents should restrict time with outside influences while children are at home.  Make them go without their phone and not be allowed to text or be on social media.
7. Surround them with loving and influential adults.  A final suggestion I would make is for parents to try and surround their children with wonderful loving adults who care for them.  The parents need this support and the kids need these other examples. Our children are blessed with loving grand-parents, aunts and uncles, and an entire church family who is always loving and caring for them.  These people have the same goals for the child’s successful development.

I am thinking about this topic, not because I have all of the answers, but because I want my children to develop a healthy self-image.  This is something parents must constantly be considering and monitoring as their child develops.

What suggestions would you have?