Common Factors that Cause Children to Develop Low Self Esteem

There are many factors which contribute to the development of self esteem for our kids. If kids have healthy relationship with his family and friends and he has supportive environment Obviously his self esteem is high. Parents and teachers who want to help kids with low self esteem should know the causes so that they would be able to find ways how to help these kids. Here are some common factors that cause low self esteem for children.

Born out of Wedlock

Most illegitimate children have unhappy childhood. They grow up with only one parent and some of them were raised by their grand parents. Others lived with their relatives and they are not treated fairly. Kids who grow up without the guidance and love of real parents have very low self esteem. They were envious to other children who grow up with love and support from their parents. Some of these kids are struggling from the ill treatment and teasing of other kids just because they are illegitimate. These factor could hinder the child to grow with self confidence. Parents, teachers and other adults could help these kids by showing kindness, love and acceptance to them.

Divorced parents

Kids of divorced parents often have low self esteem. Most kids in this situation are emotionally disturbed, confused of what to do, and have so much pain and resentment. They avoid to join or mingle other children. Lack of participation in school activities especially if parents are involved. The pain of seeing other kids with both parents supporting them is hard to handle for children of divorced parents. This is the reason why these kids have low self esteem. They need people who can accept, love and understand them for what they have been through. If we, teachers, relatives and friends could provide them these needs, it could be a great help for them to improve their self esteem.

Sibling Rivalry

This is common among homes where parents play favoritism in treating their kids. There are parents who gave special treatment to their kids who are intelligent and attractive, and showed less interest to their kids who have no qualities for them to be proud of. This will develop sibling rivalry and would let the other felt unwanted. When this happened, the child who was not given much importance will feel bad and lost interest in many things. He will be resentful and full of envy. This will contributes to his feeling of insecurity and low self esteem. Parents would see to it that, they treated their children equally no matter what they are.

Low Intelligence/ Low IQ

Children who have low IQ are usually timid and withdrawn. They are embarrass to join other kids afraid of being teased because they are slow in understanding instructions. They are frustrated when turned down by others because they can't catch up. Children who have low intelligence are often
reluctant to mingle with others. They have low self image and low self esteem.

Socio Economic Status

Children who come from families with low economic status usually have poor self esteem. They are ashamed to join with other children afraid to be cast out
because they are not in their level. I observed that many times in my class every time there is school activity where money is involved, the kids who are in low economic situations will not participate. They can not cope with the standard of those well to do who usually dominates the decision of how much they will spend,
what to wear and what to do in general. For them, it is frustrating to be poor and this feeling would contribute to their low self esteem.

Lack of support from family and friends

Children who lack support from family and friends are not encouraged to achieve things. Full support from friends and family is a good motivation for children to succeed.It would help them build confidence with themselves and inspire them to participate. If no body cares about everything they do, this could be one factor that cause children to develop low self esteem. Supportive family and friends can help a lot to improve ones self esteem.