Self-Esteem

Everybody can be shy or experience moments of social anxiety.  Think about how you feel when you spill a drink in a restaurant, or perhaps the queasiness in your stomach you may have felt speaking to a group of people.  Children can also experience social anxiety in their day-to-day lives in situations such as:

• Being called upon by a teacher
• Playing team sports or participating in social activities
• Using school restrooms

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Your child's self-esteem can take a real beating each and every day. Losing the soccer game. Not being invited to the party. Studying hard for a test and getting only a "B-." Being teased and called names at recess. With high self-esteem, your child can easily overcome these difficulties and bounce back quickly from disappointments. With low self-esteem, daily challenges can seem overwhelming and your child will lack the self-confidence to persist when life is hard, as it often is. Self-esteem is like a suit of armor.

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As an adult, you may find it perfectly comfortable to talk about it with a person you meet in the grocery store - but yet, the very idea of sitting down one on one with your own child to have "the talk" can be extremely uncomfortable, or even absolutely mortifying. The reality is, it's not even a talk - it's an ongoing conversation that will need to happen more than once!

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Anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating are very serious eating disorders that affect increasing numbers of children and adolescents. The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that between 5-10 million girls and 1 million boys suffer from eating disorders, while as many as 15 percent of young women adopt unhealthy attitudes and behaviors about food. Struggling with a child's eating disorder, and the accompanying feelings of frustration and helplessness, can be very difficult for you as a concerned parent.

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Take your child shopping for clothes, out to eat, or watch as your child tries to play with the other kids on the playground or at sports - you realize that excessive weight causes "outside" problems.

"Inside" your child is likely to be feeling shame, humiliation, sadness and depression.

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Periods of aggression are a normal part of growing up and can be expected in certain forms at various stages in your child's life. Preschoolers may communicate frustration and anger by:

• Throwing things
• Trying to hurt themselves
• Biting
• Screaming
• Kicking

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Kids can be so sweet...kids can also be very mean. As a parent, it’s your natural instinct to protect your child – to keep him or her from getting physically and emotionally hurt. It’s a difficult enough challenge at home, but as soon as your child walks out that door, his fate is often in his own hands. You can’t be there when your child is taunted on the playground, talked about behind her back, or tricked and pushed around by older kids, but you can prepare your child to defend himself or herself emotionally against bullies.

This seminar will show you how.

If it is your child who is the bully, you should also be worried. Your child is not “stressing his independence” or “developing her leadership qualities.” S/he is participating in destructive behavior that has very real negative consequences and requires help. If you know or suspect that your child is being bullied, or is bullying others, you will want to enroll in this important live, Better Family University online seminar. Put an end to bullying and discover the strategies and tactics to protect and defend your child’s emotional health.

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