Self concept is a person perception of and feeling of how he or she sees him or herself including his or her personality, weakness, strength and relationship with others. Positive self-concept is what stood out to me the most; reason being children with positive self-concept normally have high self-esteem, self worth, politeness and exude great confidence.
When a child has positive self-concept it allows them to express themselves more freely , not shy to state their opinion, and interact with their peers and other individuals, have a positive view of themselves and this tends to lead to Confidence in their ability, Self acceptance, not worrying about what others think and Optimism as Julie demonstrated in the passage. This stood out to me the most because as a child I didn’t have a positive self-concept reason being I have a negative view about myself.
This tends to lead to lack of confidence, Want to be and look like someone else, always worrying about what others might think , afraid to talk in public, and I took on other people’s perception of myself which made me felt inferior. If I’d had positive self-concept then, I think I would have been a more outspoken child, more out going, polite and be more confident. Becoming a young lady I became aware of the consequences of negative self-concept so I refuse to be intimidated, talk out about concerning issues, accept other persons opinion about me and developed my own perception of self strong, self-approval.
I am more self-assured, don’t think of myself as perfect or as better than others, I am satisfied with myself the way I am, which in return as yielded many positive reactions. This article gives a clear insight about self-concept, having a negative self- concept as Mary did, may causes a child to miss out, it prevented her from engaging in activities, from meeting new friends and exploring her full potential.
I believe parents play an important role in the development of a child’s self-concept. It takes very young children a lot of growing up before they are able to picture themselves as separate persons capable of thinking and acting for themselves. During the time that they are ” painting” this picture of themselves, the relationships they have with those most important to them, particularly their parents, influence the picture they are developing of themselves.
As children get older, besides making them feel loved and wanted, adults can influence their child’s self-concept by Helping children to set reasonable goals and evaluate realistically, encourage children to praise themselves an teach children to praise others, encourage them to spend time with friend that will support them and not put them down. Self concept can shape a child’s future so it is important to develop self concept from a tender age