Helping Your Child Become More Optimistic

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Optimism comes more naturally to some than to others but can actually be practiced and developed over time. Humans have evolved to disproportionately notice and remember negative experiences for protection and survival, so sometimes it takes a little conscious effort to shift our focus away from the negative and embrace the positive things around us. If you feel like your child could use some help to become a little more optimistic, take a look at the following advice from an independent school in Surrey.

Model Optimism

To raise an optimistic child, you need to be their role model and their cheerleader. Our children look at us as their guides and if they see you demonstrating optimism in your day-to-day life they will be inclined to mimic this behaviour. Try and limit the amount you complain around your child and if you do find yourself complaining try and add a positive spin to it. “There’s nowhere to park near the football ground” could be followed with “though it’s only a ten-minute walk and it’s such a lovely day”. Find ways to highlight the positive aspects of seemingly negative situations and you will find that your child is inclined to follow suit. You also need to acknowledge and praise them when they do display optimistic behaviour as this will encourage them to continue to seek out the positives around them.

Encourage Risk Taking

In an ideal world we would all like to wrap our children in cotton wool to shield them from every mishap or disappointment they may encounter. However, measured risk taking is an important part of child development and helps kids to build confidence and self-esteem. If children don’t experience some failure, they will never learn how to pick themselves up and try again. Encouraging your child to take risks and try new things will develop their confidence in their own abilities and they will learn to take minor setbacks in their stride. This will enable them to see future challenges as opportunities rather than something to be feared.

Practice Gratitude

Gratitude is a practice which can be developed, the more we do it the more things we find to be grateful for, allowing us to find glimmers of positivity in any scenario. To explore gratitude with your child, get into the habit of vocalising the things you are thankful for and encourage them to do the same. This could be sporadically throughout the day as and when you come across something, or you could have your child start a gratitude journal, noting down three things each morning and night that they are thankful for. This will allow them to start and end the day from a place of gratitude and should encourage them to look out for positivity throughout their day.