Children...

...they are our future.

Need tips to build awareness and communication skills into those kids?

We've got those and tips to build your kids self esteem, too. Kids are people, too. The most important people on the planet. They are our future. Building their awareness and self esteem will make a difference in their life, for life.

Life is an experience! And when you are aware ... oh, what a feeling!

Why do think young children are so blissfully happy? Right up until they learn the mind games, that is. Right up until they are subject to over control and manipulation of well-intended parental guidance. We don't often know exactly what's best for ourselves. So, how could we know 100% of the time what's best for someone else? Maybe we should be working cooperatively more often than not? Yes, even with our children. We'd all be smart to take notes and ask for tips from each other's experiences, right? Well:

Tip #1: You are the Leader ... so lead by example. That doesn't mean act like you know everything, and you are always right. That's wrong and dishonest. That's poor leadership. That's poor guidance. Everything changes and we all get to learn from our own experiences. Always allow others' their opinions and experiences, even children. Allow for innocent perspectives that you didn't consider. Live self discipline, respect, and responsibility. Set examples with routines and cooperative efforts. Give help in order to receive help. Don't give help if you don't receive it, but stop and explain why you are refusing to help. Build their Awareness! Let the kids (and all people) in your life learn and be responsible for their own decisions and actions. That includes you. Kids cannot learn if you don't let them experience all the good and all the bad that they generate for themselves. Protect them from harm, but don't protect them from experience.

Tip #2: It is a disfavor to tell another person how they should feel. Feelings are a unique, personal, and individual experience. Telling kids "you should be happy" does nothing but confuse them, and eventually it builds frustration and resentment. How are kids ever going to know how they truly feel about anything if they've always been told they should be happy, when they're actually sad, angry, or frustrated? How are kids (or anyone for that matter) supposed to build their self awareness and self esteem, and learn to deal with their feelings when they are not even allowed to experience and identify them honestly and fully?

Tip #3: A little more on feelings: If you think about it, how are any of us to know what someone else is feeling? I'm not you. You are not me. We have never felt any but our own feelings and experiences. Maybe we should allow the sadness without pushing the guilt; the unhappiness without pointing out fault; the excitement without the caution about getting let down. Allow the feelings, allow the awareness of self. Allow kids the personal experience of success or failure for their choices. Provide explanation after, if it's even necessary. We all need to better ackowledge our own true feelings, so we can learn how to navigate our own self awareness through the rest of our own lives.

Interesting thought and Tip #4: Have you ever noticed? Humans are the only animals on earth who tell their young it's not okay to stop or quit something that makes them miserable. Why is that? Why did "quit" become such a bad word? As adults, you may have noticed that many people cannot recognize what is making them miserable, let alone what makes them happy. Perhaps that is because they were never allowed to trust and feel their own feelings and create their own positive experiences because they were afraid to quit doing what makes them miserable.

Now consider: If we don't allow our children to make their own choices and feel the weight of their own responsibilty, how will they ever find what makes them happy? How will they ever learn or experience self awareness and build self esteem?

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