Introduction

Self-esteem is a widely used concept both in popular language and in psychology. It refers to an individual's sense of his or her value or worth, or the extent to which a person values, approves of, appreciates, prizes, or likes him or herself. Self-esteem is generally considered the evaluative component of the self-concept, a broader representation of the self that includes cognitive and behavioral aspects as well as evaluative or affective ones. (Stamatakis, Pg. # 58-65)

A person has high self-esteem when the abilities and actions are welcomed by others. These people gain confidence in their selves, they know what their strengths are and they can identify their weaknesses, they always try to improve, with the criticism they face and try to learn from their mistakes.

Self-Esteem among Children

Children with low self-esteem, feels a difference between how they are and how they want to be. The more areas of life of children and adolescents are affected by this form of securities, the worse their overall assessment. Low self-esteem appears in many problems of childhood and adolescence. Maybe a teen has very good academic results, but if that's not important to him or her, will not have much value.

Importance of Self-Esteem

A person's self-esteem is very important because it can be the engine that drives them to success in life, not in economic terms but in the realm of personal, or make you feel really bad even though it seems they have it all. (Abood, Pg. # 20-26)

You can get to the point that when children become teenagers, we find cases in which young people with good looks and excellent academic results are suddenly committing suicide attempt because of no self respect. These cases, which never cease to surprise us all, probably could have been avoided if the young person had a high self-esteem.

Furthermore, although it seems that negative self-esteem is the major cause of childhood disorders, it is true that is present in many of them.

Development of Self-esteem in Children

Parents must be very attentive their children tell them. Many times they talk about their relationships with their classmates, allowing us to see if they have friends or not. Moreover children often talk about their own achievements and failures. There are children who are constantly using negative statements about their behavior or being, such as: "I'm useless for anything", "everything goes wrong", "and nobody loves me". All such statements are very damaging ...