We all want our children to grow into healthy, happy and productive adults.
We want them to be :
- Respectful & caring
- Responsible
- Emotionally competent
- Motivated in school
- Successful
- Self-reliant
- Resilient
… to be able to cope with life’s challenges and live peaceful and fulfilled lives.
The key question is, how can we achieve this…
Research is documenting that authentic self-esteem in tightly connected with positive personal qualities:
- Competence & Creativity
- Intrinsic Motivation
- Leadership & Social Skills
- Willingnes to Take Risks
- Resiliency & Self-reliance
While the lack of self-esteem has been found to be closely associated with:
- drug and alcohol abuse
- truancy
- teenage pregnancy
- school drop-out rate
- juvenile delinquency
Defensive mechanisms in students with low self-esteem include:
- Rebelling, resisting, defying or retailing
- Discounting, teasing or belittling others
- Lying, cheating or copying
- Blaming others when things don’t go right
- Failing to take responsibility for their actions
- Bullying or threatening others
- Withdrawing, being shy or daydreaming
- Engaging in forms of escape, including tardiness, truancy or drug or alcohol dependency