Raising a Confident Kid – 5 Ways to Help My Daughter Achieve Her Goals

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As the product of a tiger mom, the importance of education has been instilled in me since I can remember. And that same thinking influences how I raise my daughter and the simple things I do to help her succeed in life and be a confident kid.

1. Establish a daily routine – The most important thing and is quite simple is establishing a daily nightly  routine.  Experts say children need structure and consistency. Our post school routine has been homework, dinner, bath/shower and bedtime reading.
2. Add Challenging Books to the Reading List – Mind I don’t choose books that will demotivate my daughter’s love of reading but are a bit more challenging than the books she reads at school. My daughter from her homework selection will go with the easier book.
3. Ban Television, Video Games and Computers during the week – Each has it’s place but not during the school week. Frankly, there is not enough time once we come. As I mentioned earlier, we have set routine and we need to stick to it otherwise we miss our 8:30 bedtime.
4. Supplement math – Practice, practice, practice that’s my opinion about math.  There’s no guessing in math, you either know it or not. By helping my daughter become more proficient earlier in her education will lay the gound work for those junior high days when suddenly girls “think” they are not good in math. I want her to be comfortable with math as she is with her reading proficiency.
5. Extracurricular classes that mix fun, focus and commitment

• • My daughter has swimming since she was 6 months old. While the early years were dedicated to learning the basis skills, my daughter is now  perfecting her strokes. A pre-school mom told me that they took her daughter out ff class because was bored doing laps. That seemed like a ridiculous reason. Yes, my daughter still has fun but now swimming is all about mentally  focusing on working on her technique which takes focus and consistency to get really proficient at swimming.
  • What little girl doesn’t want to be a ballerina as evidenced by the over sold ballet classes in New York  but at a point you start to see girks dropping out because it starts to become too “hard.” In my mind, the more structured classes help my daughter to  focus on the correct form and moves. I have no delusions about my daughter becoming a prima ballerina but if she learns at 7,8,9 to be able to concentrate for 60 minutes on perfecting her moves,  and helps her mind to stay in the moment, this early training will help her with her future studies.

There are so many other simple things that can help your child achieve like reading bedtime stories, be a role model by reading in front of your child and discussing the importance of education. Building self-confidence starts early with the littlest things.

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