Fostering positive self-esteem in children

Lee Hausner, PhD Psychologist & Author, shares advice for parents on the best methods for fostering a positive and long-lasting self-esteem in your children
How to Build Self-Esteem In Your Children
KidsInTheHouse the Ultimate Parenting Resource
Kids in the House Tour

Fostering positive self-esteem in children

Comment
82
Like
82
Transcription: 
When parents are very successful, there are additional challenges that children may often face in terms of developing their own sense of self-esteem. And that really boils down to what creates self-esteem. Two very important characteristics of good self-esteem: The first is the individual has to say I am okay unconditionally and the second is that I am competent. Now if you have very successful parents, their success can interfere with that process in two ways. First of all, I am okay uncondtionally may not be the case when you have got highly accomplished parents who have high expectations. And their expectations for this child may be greater or may be different than the child´s ability or talent. So already you get a disconnect between I am really okay because I really cannot fulfill the high expectations of my highly successful parents. The second aspect is how does a child get competent. A child gets competent because we let them get competent. In other words, we let them do for themselves physically and intellectually. And very often if you have highly successful parents, they want to help you out. They want to protect you. They want to step in. They want to tell you the answers. They want to solve your problems. They become successful because they probably do have the answers. So they create limited space for this child to sort of develop their own personality and their own sense of accomplishment.

Lee Hausner, PhD Psychologist & Author, shares advice for parents on the best methods for fostering a positive and long-lasting self-esteem in your children

Transcript

Expert Bio

More from Expert

Lee Hausner, PhD

Clinical Psychologist & Author

Dr. Lee Hausner is an internationally recognized clinical psychologist, business consultant and family wealth advisor. She served as the senior psychologist for the Beverly Hills Unified School District for 19 years. She is currently the Senior Managing Director for First Foundation Advisors. An acknowledged expert on psychological issues involving wealth and wealth transfer, she was a presenter at the World Economic Forum in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, and is a frequent participant at the high wealth/private client conferences for major financial institutions. She is a frequent guest on national radio and television and a quoted expert in national publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Times, Forbes, Fortune, Privilege, Town and Country and Worth Magazine.

Dr. Hausner is the co-author with Doug Freeman of A Founder's Guide to the Family Foundation, published by the Council on Foundations and is the author of the seminal work regarding wealth and the family; Children of Paradise: Successful Parenting for Prosperous Families. In addition, Dr. Hausner incorporated her unique six-step transition model for succession in family business in the critically acclaimed family business resource book Hats Off to You 2: Balancing Roles and Creating Success in Family Business, of which she was a co-author.

Dr. Hausner is a graduate of Northwestern University (BA, Psychology), San Francisco State University (MA, Psychology), and Kensington University (PhD, Psychology).

More Parenting Videos from Lee Hausner, PhD >
Enter your email to
download & subscribe
to our newsletter