5 Confidence Building and Problem Solving Activities Recommended by Professionals

Building Confidence and Problem-Solving Skills in Teens

Building self-confidence is vital to the wellbeing of a child and a huge struggle faced by many teens today is overcoming crippling self-esteem issues. Showing them how to boost their own self-esteem is a skill that will benefit today and well into the future, as they are go through the trials of everyday living.

Positive Traits List

Therapists have long hinted at the importance of play when used in evidence-based therapeutic approaches. Parents can do this at home by setting time aside from their busy schedule to dedicate themselves to a confidence building activity like writing a list of positive traits. A lot of people, in general, and kids, specifically, focus far too much attention on what they can not do and what they are not. When writing a positive traits list, the goal is to shift focus to the positive: what they can do and who they are. As a parent, you can create a general list of words for your child and have them pick out the ones that apply to them. You can revisit this list as often as you like, particularly when your child becomes upset or something negative happens in their life.

Celebratory Scrapbook

This is a tool which has been suggested by The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHA). The idea is to create a scrapbook which honors each of the accomplishments and positive characteristics of the person in question. A healthy way to go about this, as a parent, is to create one side-by-side with your child, showing them that this is a tool that can benefit anyone, regardless of age.

Practice Emotion-Focused Coping

In this world, there are always people who live in negativity and will try to bring others down with them by saying mean or harmful things. To preserve confidence and build upon it, emotion-focused coping can be used to offset the negativity of others. In your own home, you can show your child how to minimize the importance of negative comments and show them that the things they say and the words they choose are reflections of their own insecurities. As a child learns this about themselves, they see it to be true for others and some of the power is taken out of others’ negativity.

Set Up Challenges

Overcoming challenges is a great way to build self-confidence. This tactic can be used as a parent by setting up realistic challenges for your child that they can be reasonably expected to overcome. Your child will feel a sense of real satisfaction after completing the challenge and their self-confidence will soar as a result.

Create a Wall of Fame

Another therapist-recommended way to boost your child’s self-confidence is to set up a wall where their accomplishments can be posted. This will not only make them feel good about the things they have done in their lives, but also reinforce that you, as their parent, are proud of them as well and feel that their accomplishments are worth remembering.