How Can You Help Your Child Develop Healthy Self-esteem?

Building self-esteem is a lifelong process which is established at childhood. The way a child feels about himself/herself is often reflected in how they act. Often times, parents are one of the biggest influences of early self-esteem development. The way that they act and behave around their children on a daily bases is reflected greatly in the way a child feels about himself/herself. So what can parents do in order to ensure that their children grow up with a positive attitude towards life?

One way that a parent can encourage healthy self-esteem in a child is to instill in them a sense of belonging. Make sure that the way you act and talk to your child is always positive. Remember not only to tell your child that you love him or her, but also to show it. Children who are loved by their families are more likely to feel more confident around others. Another way to help your child develop healthy self esteem is to offer them praise when praise is earned. Children learn how well they are doing by the parents’ reactions to their behavior. So if your son or daughter has done something worth praise, make sure that you don’t miss the opportunity to do so. There is a rule which states that a parent should offer praise at least twice as often as they criticize. So if you have to criticize your child on a given day, be sure that you also offer them praise twice that day.

And last but not least, children learn best how to work with others by first learning how to work within the family. So include your child in appropriate family discussions and functions. Also try to give your child a few age appropriate responsibilities. These are just some of the ways that you can ensure that your child will develop healthy self-esteem.

Maureen is an author,entrepreneur and children's advocate for MEA Online Edge Inc., with emphasis on the self esteem and self confidence of children; including teenagers. Caring for Kids is my current life focus. I strive to be tranquil, serene, and compassionate. Hopefully, this translates into "peaceful and calm".

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Parenting Good Behavior: How to Build Up Your Child's Self Esteem

Most people think that they can influence their child’s confidence by giving them lots of praise, but the real truth is what truly enables a child to utilize opportunities and feel confident is the ability to think in ways that see opportunities so that your child can seize the opportunities. This has been called possibility thinking. It trains the brain to look for possibilities vs. limitations.

Raising children with a high degree of self-esteem helps insure that your children can utilize these advantages or possibilities. Most importantly though, is how you train your child’s mind to think and speak. This will be the largest contributor to your child’s success. As a child, there is an unconscious learning process that takes place by observing parents, called modeling. It is when your child watches what you do and models the behavior you exhibit.

How you model your personal behavior in situations both stressful and non-stressful is how children learn to deal with the world on a daily basis. In a stressful situation if you personally are a quitter, I do not care how smart your child is or how good their grades are, they will also learn a pattern of quitting by observing you model quitting in daily life.

If you unconsciously seek validation from others, your child will learn, by you modeling it to them, that validation from outside yourself is a must have and then go seek it from their peers. If you model self-command to them, then they too will learn self-command.

If you model fear during a crisis, your children unconsciously learn how to have the same toxic thinking pattern you do. Children learn limited negative or possibility thinking from you and your daily actions because it is the only example that is being modeled to them in that moment.

Parents play a big role in the development of their child’s ability to think and act in daily life. Whether they learn limited negative or power thinking habits depends on what you allow daily in your house and what you model for them.

As a parent you are the class room of life. Children learn your thinking style and habits. As a parent, it matters what behavior you model to them every day. In the real world you must model true, authentic self-esteem, not a false sense of self-esteem, if you want them to learn and have it.

Here are 5 steps to modeling successful behaviors to your children



Parents, model desired behavior

You can not expect your child to do what you are unwilling to do. If you do not want them to develop certain habits, you must make sure that you do not model those habits and behaviors for them.

Parents, examine your thinking and speaking habits.

There are six deadly accepted limited thinking and speaking habits that can sabotage your success and your child’s success forever if it continues going unnoticed. You must learn what they are and avoid using any one of them. This will help ensure your child’s future success habits.

Parents, stop the continued daily usage of limited thinking.

Even in the smallest amounts limited negative thinking destroys your child’s aspirations and yours before they even begin. Not understanding what limited thinking really is can allow you to use it all the time without you knowing it. Learn what limited thinking and speaking habits you use.

Parents, learn and model self command.

Self-command is the ability to take action in a direction and maintain a powerful level of excitement, focus and drive to complete the task. Learn to drive your own personal power then model it for your children and your children will naturally develop this powerful tool to help them succeed in their daily activities. This will give your child the edge in life. It teaches your child strong leadership skills

Parents, understand the plays in your play book.

Every family has a play book that they use to play the game of life. When you understand what plays you and your child have in the family play book, you can find the plays that have been used to sabotage results and replace them with plays that produce desired results.



Modeling desired behavior for your children helps them develop into strong adults with strong self-command and self-esteem. Your child will watch you. What you do, your children will do. Teach them how to have the life of their dreams, by you having and modeling the life of your dreams.
Vickie Jimenez

Maureen is an author,entrepreneur and children's advocate for MEA Online Edge Inc., with emphasis on the self esteem and self confidence of children; including teenagers. Caring for Kids is my current life focus. I strive to be tranquil, serene, and compassionate. Hopefully, this translates into "peaceful and calm".

Check www.KidsEdgeOnSelfEsteem.com Comments are welcome!




Vickie Jimenez is the author of "Champagne thoughts and Caviar power The Science of Results Oriented Thinking" and has over 20 years in the Personal Development field. She is an expert in personal and business mind set performance as well as work environment management. She is a speaker, corporate trainer and the CEO of Success Systems Seminars. She teaches companies and individuals how to raise accountability and performance through self-command. increasing production, revenues, culture, sales and career satisfaction. To learn more visit http://successsystemsnow.com

Parents - You Have to Give Your Kids Real Guidance For Real Success

I'm mad at what I hear in much of today's world regarding some parents. I've even had arguments in discussing raising children. Now hear this, children cannot raise themselves - they need guidance. I think that may have been lost the way some of these parents are raising their children. I've heard some of them say, children need to find their own way in life. That's an attitude of parents not wanting to be parents.

The primary purpose of a parent is to raise a self-sufficient, emotionally healthy, and happy adult. That's it. Many parents want to be friends with their children and that's fine, only after they become a self-sufficient, emotionally healthy, and happy adult. There, I've said it twice. There are ways to make that happen.

Guidance may come in the form of discipline. I'm not talking about giving your child a spanking. That does not work. Your child needs to know how to have discipline in their lives. Again, that comes from the kind of guidance you, as a parent, will provide. They need to learn to take responsibility - give it to them. In the same token, they need to learn about consequences for their actions. Let them learn it. If you are the type of parent who always gives your kids what they want - stop it now. That's if you really care.

Now here's something that I really hate to see. Parents who push their children to do something because of some unmet goal they had early in their lives. Examples are: the father who wanted to play football as a career or the mother who wanted to be a beauty queen.

When guiding a child to become self-disciplined, a parent needs to teach them about boundaries. Children are born without knowing any rules of society. That's something that is taught to them. They need to learn what acceptable behavior is. This includes the ability to watch out for them regarding danger. I'm not saying to pound rules down their throat. This kind of discipline will only create people who fear life and not willing to take risks.

What I am saying is to teach your children how to interact effectively in society. That way they will know their boundaries as well as how to get along with other people. The parent also has to set the example so their children can learn from them. Children will always mimic what their parents do. That includes how to have a relationship with other people - including marriage. It is typical to find an adult who is an abuser will have a parent who was an abuser. That's all they knew regarding relating to people.

Your children are like blank slates when they come into the world. It is up to the parent to help mold them to be emotionally healthy and happy.

Maureen is an author,entrepreneur and children's advocate for MEA Online Edge Inc., with emphasis on the self esteem and self confidence of children; including teenagers. Caring for Kids is my current life focus. I strive to be tranquil, serene, and compassionate. Hopefully, this translates into "peaceful and calm"

Check Out: KidsEdgeOnSelfEsteem.com

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Psychological Encouragement

Maureen is an author,entrepreneur and children's advocate for MEA Online Edge Inc., with emphasis on the self esteem and self confidence of children; including teenagers. Caring for Kids is my current life focus. I strive to be tranquil, serene, and compassionate. Hopefully, this translates into "peaceful and calm".


In 1991, I started my first year of college. It was a scary time for me as it is with most students leaving home for the first time. I was set up with general courses, as well as an education course, since that was what I was majoring in at the time. I also took a psychology class.

The psychology professor was big man that tended to go so fast that things he taught went in one ear and out the other. Because I had a learning disability this was not good. I spent more time reading and getting notes from other students, but the worse part of the course was the testing. The professor tended to cover 3 or 4 chapters and then have a test. I was doing ok with the regular assignments but not the tests.

So, I came up with the idea that maybe he would be willing to give me the exam orally instead of written. After class one night, I went up to him and asked him if he minded. He said he didn’t mind and we set up a time and day. I spent the next day studying as hard as I thought I possibly could so that when that evening came I felt ready for the test.

That evening I went over to his office and took the test orally. I did lousy, and he suggested that I drop the course at that point because my grade was so bad. I asked him to let me take it written the next day when all the other students took it. He said that was ok. So, I spent that evening and all day the next day studying for that test. I was determined to prove him wrong and to prove that I could do it.

The next evening, I went in to take the test and felt even more ready than I had been when I took the oral one. For some reason, the answers seem to come easier for me. When I left that room after the exam, I came out with a wonderful feeling of accomplishment.

As a person with learning disabilities, I had to have courage to continue on, determination to prove to others and myself that I could do anything I put my mind to, and confidence in myself as well. Without these things I never would have gotten a grade of 105 on the test and passed the course with a B+.

One thing I have learned over the years is this: Do not give up on yourself, no matter what. You just need to keep telling yourself, "I can do this". The more you tell yourself this, the more you will begin to believe it. And the more you will do.

About the Author

Michele Gauvin Alley is a successful adult, who has learned to cope with learning disabilities. She and her mother, Sandy Gauvin, created LDPerspectives, a site dedicated to helping people take charge of the Learning Disabilities in their lives. From parents to teachers to students, we provide resources and support for anyone involved with LD. We're here for you! Share in the wisdom and resources at http://www.LDPerspectives.com

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The Teenage Twilight Zone

I was shocked to learn recently that nearly all of my daughter’s friends are on bad terms with their parents. Out of a collection of around twenty teenagers, only two were happy to spend time with their parents, most preferring to avoid family interaction altogether.

This is a sad indictment of the parents, in my view. Teenagers by definition are self centred, aggravating creatures with inbuilt radar for avoiding household chores and a mysterious ability to disrupt the family home from the cellar to the attic for most of the interim years between the age of 12 and 19. This, however, is not a good enough reason to give up on them.

I learned early in my daughter’s teens that, in spite of being completely unable to keep her room even moderately clean and tidy, she had a reputation amongst other families for being an organised washer of dishes, an unstoppable whiz with a vacuum cleaner, and an asset in the kitchen. At first, I thought they must be talking about someone else’s child, but no. It really was my little horror they were talking about.

Why is it that these kids can perform so beautifully in another environment but not at home? I could quite truthfully swear that my daughter has never been bullied into doing anything she did not want to do, so the Cinderella theory is out the door.

Perhaps she just likes these other people better, you say to yourself, hoping it is not the case, of course. In actual fact, that has nothing to do with it. I believe now that it is only a case of wishing to achieve somewhere that is unfamiliar, with someone who is unaware that, at home your room resembles the Somme.

There is an element of make believe in the matter, I must add. These kids do not see themselves as a problem; they see themselves still as your little girl, your best buddy, almost as though they imagine such things as being responsible and careful with pocket money, keeping your room clean, helping with the chores, all apply to someone else. Threats to punish all these insurrections only lead to a greater problem, I discovered; conflict and resentment sparking a deeper unhappiness not worth the sacrifice of getting the floors vacuumed or the windows cleaned.

Another very curious feature of teenage behaviour is that children who have been raised from a very early age to be helpful and responsible, polite and supportive, will go off the tracks as quickly as a child who has been ruined rotten and never taught any standards whatever! Most unfair – it makes you wonder why you bothered!

My experiences have mostly been of girls but I have been assured by friends that their boys are just as worrying, turning laconic, lazy and sullen.

It is true, though, that at some stage in their early twenties, these kids reform. The reformation is as mysterious as the departure from authority in the first place; it just happens, rather like Santa Clause. Just be grateful and try not to analyse things too closely. They all come home in the end – you just have to be patient until they do.

Maureen is an author,entrepreneur and children's advocate for MEA Online Edge Inc., with emphasis on the self esteem and self confidence of children; including teenagers. Caring for Kids is my current life focus. I strive to be tranquil, serene, and compassionate. Hopefully, this translates into "peaceful and calm".

Please go to KidsEdgeOnSelfEsteem.com

Jan Gamm writes reflections on life with an emphasis on world travel. She has lived in many countries and traveled extensively in the Far East, the Middle East, America, South America and throughout the South Pacific. She writes for fun and for money whenever she can manage it.

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Maureen Amberg

Cognitive Therapy For Children - A Family Approach

In recent years, cognitive behavioral psychotherapy with children and adolescents is receiving an increasing amount of attention. While cognitive behavior therapy with children and adolescents considered as an effective and widely used therapeutic approach, most cognitive behavioral therapists lack skills when it comes to working with parents and other family members.

Research shows that most childhood disorders are associated with family problems. Children's difficulties occur in a familial context and family members play a role in the initiation, maintenance, as well as exacerbation of children's problems.

However, there are few cognitive behavioral approaches to family therapy. This is regrettable for at least two reasons. First, children and adolescents infrequently refer themselves to therapy and typically are brought to therapy by powerful others such as peers, teachers, and institutions. Second, cognitive therapists working with individual youngsters rarely hold enough reinforcers and create a consistent environment to effect generalizable and enduring changes in the family context.

Since the beginning, family therapy has been interested in how interactions between family members can create and maintain problem behavior. Family therapists are also interested in the circular nature of causality (A influences B influences C influences A). This approach allows therapists to gain an understanding of how the child's context can create, maintain and change the presenting problem. It also allows the child not the feel stigmatized. In addition, the family can learn to be supportive to the child experiencing mental health difficulties.

Family therapy techniques would be complementary to cognitive behavioral therapies with children, adolescents and their families.

Maureen is an author,entrepreneur and children's advocate for MEA Online Edge Inc., with emphasis on the self esteem and self confidence of children; including teenagers. Caring for Kids is my current life focus. I strive to be tranquil, serene, and compassionate. Hopefully, this translates into "peaceful and calm".

Maureen Amberg
Look Now: KidsEdgeOnSelfEsteem.com

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Child Obesity - It's Your Fault Your Child's Fat!

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Maureen Amberg is an author and entrepreneur whose primary focus is on the well being of children of all ages.
Check this out! www.kidsedgeonselfesteem.com
I welcome your comments ~



The United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 25% of children in the US are overweight, and 11% are obese. As with the child obesity epidemic, there has also been a great rise in adult obesity. Obesity means too much body fat. While it may be a crisis in this country, it's not, however, a problem without a solution.

Just as with adults, there are a variety of potential causes for children being overweight; most of which are preventable or reversible. Only in rare cases is being overweight cause by a medical condition such as a hormone problem. Obesity begins at home; and it doesn't happen overnight. It starts with what children eat. It is the fault of the parents--not the child. Children are not taking themselves to the fast food restaurants, buying groceries or preparing their own meals.

Childhood obesity affects both the physical and psychosocial health of children. The physical effects put obese children at a greater risk for medical problems that were once associated with middle-aged adults, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, asthma, bone trouble, fatty liver, sleep apnea, and gallstone formation.

But often more dangerous than the physical risks of child obesity, experts say, is the emotional pain children feel when they are teased and excluded because they are "fat." Fat children are not happy children. They are less likely than other children to receive "best friend" ratings from their classmates. When shown silhouettes of fat and thin males and females, nine-year-old children rated the fat figures as having significantly fewer friends, being less liked by their parents, doing less well at school, being less content with their appearance and wanting to be thin. Overweight children are also more likely to be victims or perpetrators of bullying than are their normal-weight peers.

The real causes of child obesity are very obvious but no one wants to change their way of living. The blame is placed squarely on the parents shoulders because they dictate or control the lifestyle of their child. If you're a parent and are concerned about your child's weight, there are several steps you can take to prevent them from being included within these disturbing child statistics.

Eating habits must be changed. Parents must cook nutritionally balanced meals, virtually eliminate snacks high in fat and sugar, teach portion control, pack healthy lunches, avoid fast food and help their children increase levels of physical activity. Parents must teach by doing, which means parents must, themselves, also follow a nutritional and exercise plan that leads to a healthy weight.

Respectfully submitted by Idaline Hall. For more useful insider secrets in the area health & fitness visit http://healthquicktips.com

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Drinking Water Safety - Why Your Drinking Water is Not Safe Anymore

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Are you worried about drinking water safety? To be honest, we should all be concerned about the quality of what comes out of our drinking water faucets.

You may have got used to the chlorine smell and changing taste of your water and believe that the municipals are taking drinking water safety seriously, but the truth is they don't have the resources.

Due to the latest technological advances, we can choose to use home filtration to make sure the drinking water faucets only provide safe and pure water and help us to avoid waterborne illness and long term health problems.

The accounts of water related illness are on the increase and many municipals add to this problem further by using chloramine instead of chlorine to disinfect the supplies. This stays in the water for longer and being so toxic, it leaches out lead from the pipes and fittings and the increased lead levels end up in your supply.

Drinking bottled water is no better and actually has less regulation than the tap variety but costs more per gallon than gas for your car. It also adds to the landfills with over 60 million plastic bottles used each day in the US alone.

The other concern from a drinking water safety standpoint with the bottled type is that the longer it sits in your fridge, the more contaminated it gets from the chemicals in the plastic, namely BPA.

The best solution is to use a quality home filtration system and bottle your own water, preferably in glass bottles, for when you go out.

If you were to think in terms of cost, a good home filtration in my opinion will cost around $100 - $120 and if you regularly drink bottled water you would spend around $20 a week. The equivalent cost from bottling your own would be less than $2 a week. It could pay for itself in a couple of months.

In addition you get guaranteed healthy contaminant free water flowing from your drinking water faucets to help keep your family safe as the best remove many of the harmful chemicals including chlorine and THM's which can lead to cancer.

If you research some more you will come to realize that all is not well with our water and that it is down to us as individuals to take the necessary steps to protect ourselves and our families from this worsening situation.

Put your mind at rest about drinking water safety by visting http://www.healthy-filtered-water.com

Maureen Amberg is an author and entrepreneur with emphasis on the best interests of children. Kids are 1/3 of our population and ALL of our future.
http://www.KidsEdgeOnSelfEsteem.com
I welcome your comments.

Ray Hamilton is a dedicated advocate and researcher of the incredible benefits of safe, pure and healthy filtered water. Take a moment to visit his site now and discover which products he recommends after extensive research.

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Do Your Kids Believe in Themselves?

As a parent you need to let your kid know that you do not expect them to be perfect. You know they are going to make mistakes and have behaviors that are not acceptable. You do not want your kid to be afraid of making mistakes.

Teaching a kid to believe in themselves, even if they mess up, is a part of life and they need to say "sorry" and move on. Even basketball giant Michael Jordan says "I missed more shots than I made". Moving on is the key to success in life and you will want to teach your kids that philosophy.

If you have kids, you will remember when they went through the shy stage. Do you remember when in a group, the kid would hide behind your leg and peek around a corner? Is this shy stage a demonstration of lack of self confidence? I doubt it because they out grow it. It is what we call "going through a phase".

I went to a student piano recital and sat beside one of the mothers of a kid in the recital. Her son came back to her at least a half of dozen times saying "Mommy, I can not do it. I am going to throw up". His mommy each time said, "You can do it; you have practice so well; go back to your seat. You can do it". He had no self confidence at all. There were at least 200 people seating and standing in an average size room. The piano and chair were on a stage for everyone to see them. Unfortunately, this little boy was about tenth on the program so he was a pack of nerves. When it came his time, he walked on the stage, gave his bow, sat down at the piano and never missed a note. He got up, took his bow, and ran back to his mommy instead of his designated seat to hear how good he had performed and to get a smile and kiss. I see them at every recital now and he smiles when he performs and enjoys it so much. He gained his self confidence with his first performance and continued to improve on his piano skills.

Self confidence has to be created with good accomplishments in life. It does not come naturally. Going through the experience can build confidence and by receiving compliments along the way makes it stick like glue. Helping kids gain their self confidence is truly one of the best things adults can do to help them reach success in their lives.

Rosalie Lynch is a Certified Life Coach who works with parents and kids in figuring out how to live together. You are invited to check out the blog at http://www.thekidsspeakout.com and receive a free report on "Why Do Kids Lie?"

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Maureen Amberg is an author and entrepreneur with emphasis on Kids Self Esteem.
Check out KidsEdgeOnSelfEsteem.com and give me your comments ~ please.

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Low Self Esteem, Children and Teenagers, What Can You Do?

Over the last decade, low self esteem for children and teenagers is growing extremely fast. If you are like most parents, what you want more for your kids is self-confidence. They will tell you that academic and athletic come 2nd on their wish list. Without self-confidence, it is extremely hard for children and teenagers to achieve any goals, resist peer pressure and deal with adversity. Ultimately, without self confidence, it will affect directly their overall happiness and career success.

How can you help? The most important part of your job as a parent is to provide love and affection every day. All children and teenagers will benefit as they feel love by their parents. It is important that you realize that love and affection alone it is not enough to build their self-confidence. They need 2 more ingredients in order to help them achieve self-confidence. They need People Skills and they need Character.

A lot of people think that either you have people skill or you don't. That could not be further from the truth. If you did a survey and surveyed people with people skills and people without, you would find that the main difference is the way they were raised. People skill is certainly very difficult to learn if you don't learn it at a young age. That is why you should start with your children as soon as you can. Start with the basic technique. Teach them how to greet people, to look people in the eyes. When they become a teenager, you should add a firm handshake to what they should do. Teaching them how to listen well and not to be afraid to ask question will also be a good for them. There have been many studies done that shows people skills represent 75% of their success vs. 25% is technical knowledge. Don't diminish the importance of your children learning math, read and writing but the emphasizing on their people skills will go a long way towards their overall happiness and career success.

Developing character is an extremely hard thing to do. It takes a lot of commitment to teach it, be accountable to it. This is the second item your children and teenagers will need in life. Start as young as you can to teach them about integrity. Being honest can only bring good things for them. Teach how to behave in today's society. What is accepted and what is not. Knowing that will help them both on a personal level and later in life, on a professional level. Also, you could have self-confident children or teenagers but lack character. This will result with your children to not resist peer pressure, potentially affects their personal relationship and professional life.

Why is it that more and more children and teenagers lack people skills and character today? It is mainly due to 3 areas. Today's technology, the pop culture and academics emphasis are the main reasons. The technology today, having access to e-mails, test messaging, cell phones, video games create a void in personal human contact which you can only improved by meeting people face to face. If you look at movies, cartoons, music videos and how it affects our children and teenagers, you will understand why it is another reason why people lack people skills. With the disrespectful gestures and expressions used today. It teaches our kids to behave the same way. It makes our jobs as parents much harder. Also, in today's schools system, the emphasis in on academics. They do not believe people skills and character are priorities and therefore they do not focus on it.

There are many things you can do to help your children and teenagers to build their people skills and character. You should emphasis the importance of people skills before they interact with others. It could be on the way to school, to visit family or friends etc. Re-emphasizing greeting, eye contact and a firm handshake every time. Next, be a good role model. Remember, your children are always watching and listening so you should always act the part. Last, look for third party help, children, specially teenagers can tune you out so if you can find material, book, cds, dvds, that way they can teach themselves as they become an adult.

Today's generation is not learning people skills or character development. We do not hesitate to get help for our children for any other subject. So let's remember what will ultimately help our children and priorities correctly so our children and teenagers never suffer of Low Self Esteem.

To learn more about how to Overcome Low Self Esteem or Signs of Low Self Esteem, visit http://www.squidoo.com/overcoming-low-self-esteem-tips

G. Lefebvre is an online product reviewer. To learn more about overcoming low self esteem, visit http://www.squidoo.com/overcoming-low-self-esteem-tips

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Always caring for kids!

Maureen Amberg
Author, Entrepreneur and Children's Advocate
http://www.KidsEdgeOnSelfEsteem.com

Words from Dr. Bill

What if you inspired, helped someone make the right decision and helped change a life……..how great would that be!

What if you helped someone see their potential and achieve greatness beyond their imagination……..how great would that be!

What if your conviction, dedication and perseverance helped someone take the necessary actions that lead to their success in life…physically, spiritually, mentally and financially…….how great would that be!

What if all of the above proved to develop a leader of others, mentor to many and a person who others would want to emulate……..how rewarding would that make you feel!

What if that person was YOU?

Always caring for kids,

Maureen
KidsEdgeOnSelfEsteem.com

Teenage Suicide - From a Christian Perspective

Unfortunately, the reality of the society we live in sees that teenagers are increasingly taking their own lives. In fact, statistics show that an average of 500,000 teenagers will attempt suicide each year. Of that 500,000, about 500 will actually be able to take their own lives. However, this is a scary statistic that we have so many failed attempts, all of them being very serious. I think people simply do not understand God's perspective on suicide. After all, the bible doesn't actually use the term suicide, and it doesn't really say not to commit suicide, right? Wrong!

First off, I think it is important to realize some of the biggest changes we are seeing in society that may be making the difference between teenagers of fifty years ago and those of today. Generally speaking, I think one of the biggest problems we are seeing is the lack of involvement the parents have with their children. I am certainly not saying that it has to be like fifty years ago where the mothers were expected to stay home with the children. However, today, we eat our meals in separate rooms, the children are away from the household for the majority of the day, and generally, a lot of people have other people raising their children for them. This lack of involvement often leads teenagers into believing that others do not care about them and that they are better off being forever separated from their parents and those who love them. In addition, addictions play a big role, and many of today's teenagers that are struggling with an addiction, unfortunately never seek addiction help. Caught up in the vicious cycle of either a drug addiction, or alcohol addiction, many of these struggling teens feel there is little or no way out.

But you know what, as bad as that may sound, the biggest fear I have for any teenager who is enduring that feeling is the fear that they could potentially spend eternity separated from God. This would be the worst case scenario that they would never have the opportunity to understand the saving grace that God freely offers everyone. Perhaps they simply do not have the understanding of how much God cares for them. So what does the bible say on suicide?

Obviously there are a couple of places where we see people take their lives. Saul and Judas are the two that really come to mind. However, I don't think anyone ever really takes a few minutes to think about the Ten Commandments. We all strive to live by them (and all of us fail at it according to Romans 3). What do you think God meant when he said "Thou shalt not kill"? In my personal opinion, I think God was thinking about how much he values human life that he had given. His desire was that we wouldn't feel compelled to take human life and we should leave that up to God. Therefore, this would include suicide. Ezekiel 18:4 reaffirms this as well. God directly says that we have souls and those souls belong to him and him only. Therefore, at what point do we ever have the authority to take any human life, including our own? The answer is that we don't.

Many of today's teenagers are struggling not only with life issues, but addictions that have never been confronted.
http://www.christianhelpforaddictiononline.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Vic_Torgeson

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Instilling Confidence in Children

All children, in their growing up years, need motivation and be taught all those things which help them create their own identity in the society. Self-confidence is very essential for any child - however intelligent he may be. Parents and teachers instill confidence in children through proper interaction and implementing right methods of study. Let us know the techniques of building self confidence in children or the steps involved in instilling confidence in children in the succeeding paragraphs.

Providing a Safe and Secure Environment
Instilling confidence in children is not possible unless the children get a safe and secure environment at home and in schools too. School and home are the two places where children spend most of their time and naturally, their personality will be influenced by the environment at these two places. Children imitate things very quickly and its the duty of the parents and teachers to make them imitate good things. Confidence can be gained only after a lot of practice - be it in sports, academics or extra-curricular activities. As, in a business we can expect to earn a profit only if we have the right marketing plans, good infrastructure and sufficient capital, same is the case with children. They need to be taught values, good facilities and love and care before expecting them to excel in any field.

Understand Your Child's Needs
Many children are seen low on confidence, because they have no one to share their thoughts, feelings and difficulties. Many times, parents take children for granted and fail to understand his mind. Understanding a child is not possible overnight and it requires to spend a lot of quality time on a regular basis. Many times, children are not capable of expressing their feelings verbally and tend to keep their problems to themselves. Having a good dialog and striving to fulfill all his needs is very important for the process of instilling confidence in children in order to get positive results.

Have Faith in Your Child's Abilities
Instilling confidence in children involves having faith in the child's abilities and trusting them. Ridiculing a child, scolding in front of other people, making frequent comparisons with other children who are doing better than him, getting physical after losing cool over small mistakes committed by the child are the main barriers while instilling confidence in children. As a parent, you should forgive the mistakes and suggest ways to improve them to avoid the repetition of the mistakes. It becomes essential to give sufficient time to your child to show self improvement in his performance. Identify his strengths and weaknesses as early as possible and plan your teaching methods after studying them carefully. At the same time, praising the good qualities and success achieved will definitely help in increasing the self esteem of your child. Teach your child the importance of positive thinking without which its impossible to accomplish any given task.

Make Your Child Independent
Making your child independent is a necessary step in instilling confidence in children. Constant spoon-feeding is a big hindrance in the overall development of thee child. Make your child smart and capable enough to take his own decisions correctly. Give them what they deserve and encourage them to try out new things to increase their knowledge. More the knowledge depth, more will be the ability and confidence levels in children. When we try new things, we fail in some and succeed in some. Confidence increases when we know what is right and what is wrong and by knowing how to do things in a 'right' way. Suggest your child to have a role model for himself - a person whom he personally admires for his fast and speedy progress. Read more on child development.

By implementing these suggestions, instilling confidence in children will not be difficult. The earlier you begin, the more will be the advantage of your child.

Caring for kids,

Maureen
KidsEdgeOnSelfEsteem.com

Developing Self Esteem in Children By Ramona Hall

Self-esteem has become the catch word of the decade. We often make judgments about how parents and teachers should treat children based upon whether the interaction will help or hinder the child's self-esteem. As adults, we sometimes think of self-esteem as an internal edifice, subject to damage and erosion. We assume that negative feelings, unhappy events, or unpleasant relationships will gradually chip away at the façade, leaving behind a broken shell. In reality, self-esteem is more like a trip than a destination. It is a lifelong process that is inextricably connected to our relationships across the life span and to our personal accomplishments.

Our relationships with our families, friends, and co-workers all affect the way we view ourselves in the world. This self view evolves over time and changes with our life experiences. If we have mostly positive, affirming relationships with others, we tend to see ourselves more positively in terms of how we operate in society. In contrast, if we have many noxious relationships, we may develop less positive feelings about ourselves. But rarely does one event suffice to change one's self perception and affect overall self-esteem. Rather, it is the cumulative effects of many interactions which shape our feelings about ourselves.

A sense of personal accomplishment is also necessary to the development of high self-esteem. Each time we learn a new skill, overcome an obstacle, or reach a goal, we grow more certain of our ability to effect change. In turn, this feeling of self efficacy translates into a willingness to set higher goals and risk potential failure in the future. The ability to take appropriate personal risks is highly correlated with self-esteem as both a predictor and an outcome. Success builds upon success and predisposes us to make future attempts. By the same token, when we seldom or never succeed, we are much less likely to strive for the same goal in the future.

As parents and teachers, we can contribute enormously to children's growing self-esteem in several ways. Adults can provide good role models by respecting and accepting themselves and others. They can allow children opportunities to achieve success early so that they develop a sense of mastery and self efficacy. With trust and encouragement, adults can help children to set and reach realistic goals. Children can be taught that errors and failures are experienced by everyone and that they are a natural part of any learning process. And, finally, adults can provide living and learning environments that promote affirming, positive relationships.

By Ramona Hall

Ramona Hall is a Licensed Educational Psychologist and Nationally Certified School Psychologist. She makes her professional home in Santa Clarita, California. Her passion is to help parents and children live more comfortable lives at home and in school. Ramona provides testing, therapy, consultation, and case management services to families who have children in need of educational intervention. She works with children and adults in areas such as learning disabilities, Attention Deficit /Hyperactivity Disorder, Autism, Asperger's Syndrome, Tourette Syndrome, and school adjustment. Additional articles and information about educational psychology can be found at http://compassionatesolutionsscv.com