What can parents do to raise self esteem in children?

[priya]

Hi all,

My sister and SIL's daughter are 5 years old, only three months apart. My sis and SIL live in the same city so both the nieces are good friends. Sis's DD is skinny and SIL's DD is on the healthy side . Now the issue is that my sister says that SIL's DD is fat. Now this thing has entered in the mind of SIL's daughter. She says that she is too fat and all the boys in the class bully her by saying that she is too fat. I fear that she does not have self esteem issues like me.

What can her mother do to help her out?

[Niki]

maybe gte ppl that know her to compliment her, maybe the mother and daughter could go for long walks together

[Mumshmum]

Hi Priya
If you do a google search 'self esteem children' you will find lots of information.

[iamstephyc]

I have a similar problem with my 2 daughters. they are 20 months apart and are currently 4 and 5. They look very different. My oldest is very blonde and had wonderful curls, her sister had darker hair which is long and just a little wavey. For some reason, my blondie thinks that her sister is prettier. She get upset about it sometimes too. So I have started making sure that I am always telling her how nice she looks, and how lovely her curls are. I also made other family and friends aware of this so that they could be sure to comment on how pretty they both are.
Maybe just telling her often how great she looks, how good those pants look on her and such might help.
Good luck. I know how horrible it feels when your baby is feeling this way. :hugs: