Fearing the worst for our children is something we do as parents. In this imperfect world, circumstances and strangers can discourage, frighten, harm, and endanger our children. Children do not have to carry the fear of a dangerous world and parents do not 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 it.
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 we encounter.
To ensure the child’s right to personal safety, the first step is to increase the child’s self-esteem. Distance the child from physical harm comes second. Teaching children self-protection skills and teaching families to recognize potentially unsafe situations are areas where programs have been developed. Children feel good about themselves when they know their self-esteem and it helps them deal with threats and danger signals. 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 accomplishes something and hears praise, such as “Great job!” or “Wonderful!” from a father, a ‘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 provided in abundance are also very important. If a child feels unloved, he or she may still have low self-esteem even though he or she appears safe and happy otherwise. On the other hand, a child may have low self-esteem because he feels incompetent and inadequate even though he is 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 stimulate the ‘I can do it!’ of his son. attitude, try these tried and true tips.
1. Keep the “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 prizes. Try not to interrupt, as interruptions in your train of thought can cause you to forget what you were saying. This can make the child feel insignificant and that their ideas are not worth listening to.
3. Maintain good eye contact. When you give your children your undivided attention, you are showing them a good conversational model. This shows that what they are saying is in your interest and that you are also being a positive role model.
4. Make the conversation a two-way street. Come to an agreement about 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 speaks at the same time.
5. Maintain a calm, uncritical and non-irritated attitude when giving an explanation. Keep your “talk” brief. Use words that children easily understand, telling them what they should or should not do, and why they should or should not do it. Keeping a calm tone also prevents them from panicking.
6. Criticism still needs to be given. We should not avoid discussing misbehavior and shortcomings that we notice and learn. 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 make-believe situations is a good way to sharpen children’s thinking skills. It is important for children to feel that they have discovered the reasons for avoiding 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 responsible for their actions and for their safety in the present and as they become adults.
Below are some potential danger scenes and some prevention tips.
Bullying Alert: Children who seem unable 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 poor 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 that their parents will see them as weak, and often because they believe that their parents will not 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 to treat 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 draw 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 pick on 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 bullied, 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 made aware of their rights to be treated with dignity and respect. Tolerating cruelty in any form, whether it be cruel pranks in real life or as a form of entertainment, is not something they should feel expected of them.
Stranger Hazard: “Don’t talk to strangers” is not always the best advice. If parents break this rule all the time, like at school, at the grocery store, and in line at the theater, it is 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 that something is not right or that they do not feel safe, children should be encouraged to pay attention to the voice in their minds, they do not need to go through anything that does not seem right to them. 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 who have name tags, someone who runs an information booth at a public or mothers with children. .
The next step is to teach the correct way to deal with a stranger. Often a stranger will pose as a friend of a child’s parents and claim that one or both parents are sick or injured and have asked him or her 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, allow him to imagine himself in this type of situation, then ask the following questions:
If someone you don’t know told you that mom or dad sent him to take you home from school and that 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?
Waiting for mom or dad to pick you up after school, what would be the safest thing you could 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 daddy!” or “You’re not my mommy!” It is very important to teach children from a very young age the reasons why they should never go with any adult, stranger or friend, unless they have parental permission.