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Personal Growth: Early Factors In The Development Of Self-esteem
A very wise, very old, Native American man once put it to me this way: “During his first three years the child listens to what others say about him and watch how they treat him. Those things define in his mind who and what he is. He then spends the rest of his life trying to live up to that picture – to prove it is true and accurate.” Basically, this old gentleman hit it right on the head. Fortunately, there are now methods that can help replace any harmful early impressions one acquires about himself with productive, positive, beliefs and behaviors. When a youngster is not fortunate enough to have his personal growth fostered in an environment that helps him build an indomitable sense of self-esteem, large doses of assistance and intervention may be necessary. What are some of those positive, self-esteem building factors? Many take place well before the child is able to use or understand language. If his early environment keeps him warm in the cold and cool in the heat, keeps him from being hungry or thirsty, keeps him dry and clean, handles him with gentleness of word and body, and lavishes him with comfortable human contact, he learns to sense at a very basic, physiological, level that his world is one that takes good care of him. And what kind of being would the world take good car of? A precious being, of course. Such a fortunate beginning to personal growth builds a solid basis for unshakable self-esteem later on. The opposite conditions, contribute to a baseline of fear and uncertainty, which suggests that life is just not going to be such a good experience and limits the potential for developing adequate self-esteem from the earliest months and years of life. Even before the specific message of language can be understood, the child's self-esteem is impacted by the tone and volume of the language directed at him. Positive personal growth requires a generally fear-free and hurt-free environment. Harsh noises and angry tones do not contribute to a child's sense that his world is a fear-free, comfortable zone. Perpetually frightened baby's and children do not develop the basic foundation for life affirming self-esteem. It is easy to understand how, once language becomes meaningful, that a child's self concept and basic fear or safety beliefs are effected. Children who hear they are good, capable, precious beings have the best chance for developing life-long positive, self-esteem. Those who hear the negative opposite, define themselves according to those descriptions and tend to suffer from both low self-esteem and the firm disbelief that they can ever be one the the good, acceptable, likeable, helpful people in the world. Positive personal growth that leads to self-esteem later in life begins from day one and must be carefully and thoughtfully coached throughout childhood. Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Tom Gnagey is an educator, psychologist, social philosopher, and writer. He has practiced clinical psychology for 30 years. For information about his successful, proven, self-help and personal growth program, Deep Mind Mastery, go to www.TomsBookNook.com or more specifically www.TomsBookNook.com/DMM.html |
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