Kids are always in the process of figuring out who they are—especially at school. We’ve got 5 tips to help your kids gain confidence as they go back to school, including getting a fresh haircut.
Remember that scene from The Sound of Music when Maria heads off to the von Trapp family household, leaving the abbey for the first time a little excited and a little scared? She dances through the streets singing “I have confidence in sunshine! I have confidence in rain! I have confidence in me!”
There are lots of moments throughout childhood, and especially at school, that can be nerve-wracking for kids. Walking into a new classroom for the first time, taking a test, making new friends. And while dancing through the streets singing a song about it might not be the most effective way to help them overcome their fears, we’ve got a few tips to help them gain the confidence they need.
Teach them to do things on their own.
This might sound obvious, but in order for kids to feel like they are able to do things on their own… you have to let them do things on their own. Starting to foster independence at a young age will help kids gain confidence in their ability to successfully complete tasks. So give them small things to do by themselves, like dusting their bookshelf or making their lunchtime pb&j. And feel free to stay close in case they have questions.
Don’t intervene unless you need to.
As a parent, it’s tempting to try to solve all your child’s problems, especially when they’re feeling sad or frustrated. But if you fix everything that goes wrong in your kid’s life, they may grow reliant on you to continue doing so. So if your child gets an unfair bad grade, don’t march into their teacher’s classroom—at least, not yet. First, ask your child to talk to their teacher about it directly. If the problem still isn’t resolved, you can intervene if you feel it’s necessary.
Remind them perfection isn’t the goal.
It’s hard to be confident if you think you need to get gold stars on all your homework assignments or be the lead in the school play. Talk to your child about perfectionism. Let them know that what’s important is that they’re trying hard and doing the best they can—not acing every test they take. And if they mess up, encourage them to try again.
Praise them for a job well done.
Don’t let your child’s good work go unnoticed. Sometimes it’s easier to spend more energy on the things your child isn’t doing well than what they’re actually accomplishing. When they bring home a report card, you can talk to them about the C’s and D’s, about how they might do better next time. But don’t forget to tell them how proud you are of the A’s and B’s. And if they worked hard and got a C or a D anyway, be sure to compliment their work ethic. Say, “I noticed how hard you worked on that assignment/test/homework. And it didn’t turn out the way you wanted this time, but I believe if you keep putting this kind of effort into it, things will turn around for you.”
Help them look and feel confident.
When you’re trying to help your child develop a positive body image a couple of things you can do is help them take care of their body and say nice things about how they look. Taking them in for a haircut is a great way to do both. On the way you can talk to them about how doing things like brushing our teeth and taking care of our hair is a way to show love to ourselves. And after a haircut it’s often an easy, and natural time to let your child know how adorable and uniquely beautiful they are. You can say things like, “I love how I can see your eyes so well now, because you have beautiful eyes.” Or “That cut really fits your sporty style.” Or “I can see your ears again. I had almost forgotten how cute they are!”
Schedule an appointment with KidSnips to help your child look AND feel confident when they go back to school. Check out our Stylebook for inspiration and the most up-to-date hairstyles.
There’s not much better than a cool new hairstyle to help them feel ready to take on the new year. We can do short, edgy asymmetrical cuts, the burst fade, out-of-this-world space buns… and so much more. Check out this blog post for some examples of some of the most popular hair trends right now. Appointments are filling up fast, so give us a call today.
