h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A supportive home environment is critical!

Telling your children that you love them, that you're proud of them, and that they're special - very, very important.

Mister Rogers (an American children's television icon (A575624) often sings a song on his programme 'You Are Special'

I'll just quote a few lines:
"You are my friend, you are special.
You are my friend, you're special to me.
You are the only one like you.
Like you, my friend, I like you."

Simply brilliant isn't it. And something parents all need to do more of.

At the start of school this year, my eldest daughter's class was asked to write a sentence about why they are special. My child wrote 'I am special because I am loved.'

Knowing that you're loved and special to others builds self-esteem naturally.

Very true!
A secure & comforting home environment can often be a great starting point for people, especially children, as they make their first tentative steps in the world. However, I would suggest that it is only the first phase as it is a child´s first contact. Creating a safe, loving environment is a good beginning, and yet an individual will also be affected by how the rest of the world community receives & treats them upon branching out from the family nest. Their experience of that will help to shape longer-term their inner securities. Bullying, academic disappointment, the long-term unemployed are just some of the factors that would knock any individual´s confidence in themselves. It should be good to go back to that secure family home to know there is someone who wants them in the world, but the setbacks & ´kicks-in-the-teeth´ of everyday life could shatter a person´s belief in themselves & possibly prompting sour side-affects, like alcoholism or worse, just to soften the blow. That is perhaps the time when the strength of those relationships formed @ home are tested most.

Oh, I agree with Jimi. I know from experience that bullying can rob you of self esteem, however in a family where children are encouraged to be open and not to be judged, they can discuss this if it happens. a child who is loved will be less prone to bullying, because of increased self-confidence. What you believe you can do, you can do. A child who is taught how to deal with the world and how to be successful will be better able to cope with disappointments and job losses as and when they happen and to bounce back.

Jimi!

A children's song extract just for you from Roy Bailey

Oh you can be anybody you want to be
You can love whover you will
You can travel any country that your heart leads
And know that I will love you still.

You can be by yourself, you can gather friends around
You can choose one special one
And the only measure of your worth in this life
Will be the love you leave behind when you're done.

I like this song.
And I think that this is the right track to self esteem, Parents program it into their children and this lets them know they are worthy
And as you say, life's knocks, don't penetrate so deeply.