{"id":218164,"date":"2024-03-29T00:27:06","date_gmt":"2024-03-29T00:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/29\/want-to-raise-confident-happy-kids-do-these-4-things\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T17:19:44","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T17:19:44","slug":"want-to-raise-confident-happy-kids-do-these-4-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/29\/want-to-raise-confident-happy-kids-do-these-4-things\/","title":{"rendered":"Want to raise confident, happy kids? Do these 4 things"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Confidence and self-esteem may be among the most admirable qualities someone can hold. But if we aren\u2019t taught how to be confident in our younger years, it can make for a self-conscious, insecure adulthood.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cHappiness takes many forms, and we want our children to have a skill set that brings out self-confidence,\u201d says Eva Moskowitz, Ph.D.<\/a>, CEO of charter school system Success Academy<\/a> and author of A+ Parenting: The Surprisingly Fun Guide to Raising Surprisingly Smart Kids<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a highly scheduled and frenetic world with lots of external events happening regularly, we can forget that intellectual engagement is actually a pretty important part of a kid\u2019s happiness and confidence,\u201d Moskowitz tells Fortune<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The educator and mother of three weighs in on how to raise and motivate children to be their most confident<\/a>, happy selves.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Push children beyond what is \u2018easy\u2019<\/h2>\n

Oftentimes, parents and educators believe self-confidence grows by having kids do tasks that are easily achievable, Moskowitz says. In her experience, though, that\u2019s hardly the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cSelf-confidence comes when kids work through a struggle\u2014when they are given a hard math problem or given a difficult opponent,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen they are given a difficult learning task and they make it to the other side, that is what builds confidence. And we take that away from children at our own peril and, frankly, at their own peril.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a world of instant gratification, it\u2019s easy to get fed up when we don\u2019t succeed immediately. But success and self-confidence come from navigating and recovering from failure, Moskowitz says. Plus, it feels great to finally achieve something you\u2019ve been working toward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ve lost a little bit of the sense that the most successful people have failed before,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

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