Self-esteem of a junior schoolchild, the formation of a child’s self-esteem. Factors and stages in the formation of self-esteem in children of primary school age

How successfully a child will develop as an individual and be successful in adulthood depends on the level of self-esteem. The formation of children's self-esteem is influenced by various factors, the main role among which is played by the attitude of the parents towards the child and his whirling. How to increase your child's self-esteem - you will learn from our article.

Formation of adequate self-esteem in children of different ages

Self-esteem- this is how a person evaluates himself: his capabilities, character traits, actions, how he determines his place among other people. Self-esteem is very important for a child, because it is the basis for personality formation. Adequate self-esteem (when a child objectively perceives his strengths and weaknesses) is the first confident step into society and a successful life. But the main desire of parents is for their child to grow up happy and successful, isn’t it?

However, not every mother or father knows how to raise a child with adequate self-esteem. Let's see what features of the formation of self-esteem in children of different ages.

The task of parents of preschool children is to form good, high self-esteem.

The self-esteem of preschoolers is usually slightly inflated. This is considered absolutely normal, since the baby is just learning to evaluate himself. The task of parents of preschool children is to form good, high self-esteem, manifested in self-confidence, openness, and sociability. How to do it:

• express comments tactfully and correctly, avoiding the particle “not” (for example, not “you didn’t succeed...”, but “you succeeded, but...”
• create situations for the child in which he can achieve success: tasks in accordance with the child’s age.

“Low self-esteem that appears in a child in preschool age is difficult to raise later.”

Self-esteem of children of primary school age becomes more adequate. While learning, children look at their qualities differently, trying to evaluate them correctly (usually this happens in the second year of school). In the third grade, even low self-esteem may appear, but most often elementary school students have unstable self-esteem. Children begin to be critical of themselves, look for their weaknesses, and see only the bad in themselves. And self-esteem is formed under the influence of assessments given by teachers, parents and classmates of the child during the educational process. Therefore, adults need to feel responsible for what assessments and characteristics they give to children of primary school age, because at this age it is easy to label a gifted child a failure, and vice versa, it is easy to instill excessive confidence in a child who does not have enough grounds for this.

Self-esteem of middle school children characterized by the ability to adequately evaluate oneself: successes, defeats, qualities of character. The opinions of parents and teachers are relegated to the background, giving way to the opinions of peers. Most of all, a student of this age is not worried about grades at all, but about communication skills and relationships with classmates. The task of parents here is to help the child get to know himself, creating conditions for the discovery of his talents and character strengths. It is also important to support the teenager’s interest in learning. Remember that strict control will reduce the student’s self-esteem. You need to allow the child to control his own way of thinking and behavior.

Self-esteem of high school students is unstable. Older schoolchildren become overly vulnerable and sensitive to criticism. They are busy searching for themselves, many of them are dissatisfied with their appearance, some of them have romantic experiences, which can cause a decrease in self-esteem. Here it is important for parents to maintain a certain tact and explain to their son or daughter that excessive self-criticism will only do harm. It is better not to compare a teenager with peers, but to support him on the path of development and self-expression.

Older schoolchildren are overly vulnerable and sensitive

"Advice. Be careful with criticism: at any age, it can turn your best intentions into a tragedy for your child. Remember also that excessive praise can cause inflated self-esteem. Balance is important in everything.”

If you praise, then it’s right

Encouragement and praise play a significant role in increasing a child’s self-esteem. Scientists have noticed that if a child is not approved of in the process of positive activity, but his assessment is significantly understood, contributing to the emergence of feelings of insecurity. But you also need to be able to praise.

Psychologists have identified areas of activity in which you should not praise a child:

• for everything that was not done by oneself
• for beauty, health, kindness - these are natural abilities
• for toys, objects, clothes or in case of discovery
• out of pity
• out of a desire to please.

Why is it worth praising and encouraging a child?

1. For the desire to develop any natural talent, to develop, to express oneself.
2. For children's achievements: good grades, victory in a tournament, success in creativity.

"Advice. Increased self-esteem will be facilitated by the promise of praise (approval) using a correctly chosen phrase: “I believe in you”, “I’m sure you’ll do great”, “You can handle it”, “You can do it” Do not broadcast negative attitudes that a child can easily believe.”

Certain techniques can boost your child's self-esteem

Here's what psychologists advise parents to increase their child's self-esteem:

1. Ask your child for advice. Treat your child as an equal, follow his advice, even if it is far from the best - this will give the child confidence and a sense of importance.
2. Ask your child for help.
3. Feel the moments when an adult can be weak - for educational purposes.

Note that Inflated self-esteem of a child is also a problem. You can overcome it if you teach your child:

• listen to the opinions of others
• calmly accept criticism
• respect the feelings of other children and their wishes.

Tests and games

Want to find out your child's self-esteem type? Use the “Ladder” test. It can be used to diagnose children from 3 years of age.

Test "Ladder". You need to draw a ladder of 10 steps on paper. Show it to your child and explain that at the bottom are the most unlucky, envious, angry, whiny children, on the higher step - a little better, on the third step - a little better, etc. And at the very top are the very best guys: the smart ones , cheerful, talented, kind girls and boys. Check to see if the child understands the location of the steps. After this, ask: on what level will he place himself? Let your child mark the step by making a symbolic drawing of himself. Now we can draw conclusions.

If a child puts himself on the first, second or third step, he clearly has low self-esteem. Placement from the 4th to the 7th step indicates average (that is, adequate) self-esteem. And if your child is on the eighth, ninth or tenth step, then this indicates high self-esteem.

Help your child master effective communication techniques and correct behavioral responses that can be used in real life.

To correct and maintain an adequate level of self-esteem for a child, a special game “Situations” has been created.

Game "Situations". Describe to your child several situations that he should relate to his behavior. Take on the roles of other characters. For example:

• You took part in a sports competition and won, and your friend ended up at the end of the list. He was very upset. How will you calm him down?
• Dad brought 3 apples: for you and your brother (sister). How will you divide? Why?
• The guys are playing in the yard exciting game, and you were a little late for it. Ask to be included in the game. What will you do if you are not accepted?

This game helps you master effective communication techniques and correct behavioral reactions that can be used in real life.

Try to develop adequate self-esteem in your child

1. Don’t protect your child from daily chores and responsibilities, don’t solve all his problems for him, but don’t overload him either. Let him take part in the cleaning, receive satisfaction from the work and deserved praise. Try to set tasks for your child that he can handle: he should feel dexterous, skillful and useful.
2. Don’t overpraise your child, but don’t forget to reward him if he deserves it.
3. Select adequate types of praise and punishment, then the child’s self-esteem will be adequate.
4. Support your child's initiative.
5. Demonstrate yourself an example of adequate behavior in case of successes and failures.
6. There is no need to compare your child with other children. It’s better to compare him with himself: what he was like today and what he will be like tomorrow.
7. Punish and scold the child specifically for some action, and not in general.
8. Know that negative evaluation has a bad effect on interest and creative success.
9. Have confidential conversations with your child, analyzing his actions.
10. Love your child for who he is.

Be attentive to your child: your love and intuition will tell you how to correctly shape the child’s character and, if necessary, raise his self-esteem. Encourage your child's positive behavior, praise him for his successes, and you will soon see how confidently he will go through life.

Self-esteem is a moral assessment of one’s own actions, moral qualities, beliefs, motives; one of the manifestations of moral self-awareness and conscience of an individual. The ability for self-esteem is formed in a person in the process of his socialization, as he consciously assimilates those moral principles that are developed by society and reveals his personal relationship to one’s own actions based on the assessments given to these actions by others.

Thanks to the ability to self-esteem, a person gains the ability to largely independently direct and control his actions and even educate himself.

Many people believe that a person’s self-esteem largely depends on other people’s understanding of his merits. When people support a person, are attentive and kind to him, and express approval, a person is affirmed in the fact that he means a lot to everyone and to himself. But based on the concepts of Eastern philosophies, self-esteem is the basic essence of a person, it is something with which he was born, it is what he has by default, because you are a person, because you were born, because you live and by By default you are a particle of the Universe. True self-esteem is built on accepting oneself, people, the processes of life and this world, because that’s how it is, that’s just the way it is and that’s all, and all that remains is to just live and enjoy it. Self-esteem is something that others cannot define for you; it cannot be understood with the mind, it can only be felt. IN modern psychology There are three types of self-esteem:

Adequate self-esteem corresponding to the actual abilities and capabilities of a person;

Inflated self-esteem, when a person overestimates himself;

Low self-esteem is when a person underestimates himself.

In the same situation, people with different self-esteem will behave completely differently, take different actions, and thereby influence the development of events differently.

Based on inflated self-esteem, a person develops an idealized idea of ​​his personality, his value to others. He does not want to admit his own mistakes, laziness, lack of knowledge, incorrect behavior, and often becomes tough, aggressive, and quarrelsome.

Obviously low self-esteem leads to self-doubt, timidity, shyness, and the inability to realize one’s inclinations and abilities. Such people usually set lower goals for themselves than those they could achieve, exaggerate the significance of failures, are in dire need of support from others, and are too critical of themselves. A person with low self-esteem is very vulnerable. All this leads to the emergence of an inferiority complex and is reflected in his appearance - he looks away, frowns, and is unsmiling.

The reasons for such self-esteem may be hidden in an overly domineering, caring or indulgent parenting what will happen to early years programmed in a person’s subconscious, to give rise to a feeling of inferiority, and this, in turn, forms the basis for low self-esteem.

Low self-esteem has many forms of manifestation. These are complaints and accusations, the search for the culprit, the need for attention and approval, which, as it were, compensates in the eyes of such a person for a sense of self-denial, self-esteem. Depression, divorce (many of them are the result of low self-esteem of one or both partners).

Adequate self-esteem by a person of his abilities and capabilities usually ensures an appropriate level of aspirations, a sober attitude towards successes and failures, approval and disapproval. Such a person is more energetic, active and optimistic. Hence the conclusion: you need to strive to develop adequate self-esteem based on self-knowledge.

The formation and development of positive self-esteem is the foundation on which all life should be built. By allowing negative thought patterns to dominate our lives, we form the habit of expecting negative factors.

Stages of self-esteem formation:

I. Early age. Many children, already at an early age, mark their successes or failures in activities with appropriate emotional reactions to them. Most children of this age simply state the result achieved; some perceive success or failure with positive and negative emotions, respectively. In the same age group The first individual manifestations of self-esteem are observed, mostly only after success in activity. The child not only rejoices at success, but shows a peculiar sense of pride, deliberately and expressively demonstrating his merits. However, even such elementary self-esteem reactions at this age are still extremely rare.

Around 3.5 years old, children can already observe massive reactions to success and failure, obviously related to self-esteem. The child perceives the corresponding results of activity as depending on his abilities, and the result of his own activity is correlated with personal capabilities and self-esteem.

A child’s self-esteem and awareness of the demands placed on him appear around 3-4 years of age based on comparisons of himself with other people.

II. By middle preschool age, many children develop the skill and ability to correctly evaluate themselves, their successes, failures, and personal qualities, not only in play, but also in other types of activities: learning, work and communication.

Such an achievement should be considered as another step towards ensuring normal schooling in the future, since with the beginning schooling the child constantly has to evaluate himself various types activity, and if his self-esteem turns out to be inadequate, then self-improvement in this type of activity is usually delayed.

Special role in planning and forecasting results personal development The child is played by the idea of ​​how children of different ages perceive and evaluate their parents. Those parents who are good role models and at the same time evoke a positive attitude towards the child are able to have the strongest influence on his psychology and behavior. Some studies have found that children between the ages of 3 and 8 experience the most significant influence from parents, with some differences between boys and girls. Yes, girls psychological impact parents begins to be felt earlier and lasts longer than in boys. As for boys, they change significantly under the influence of their parents in the period from 5 to 7 years, i.e. three years less.

III. At older preschool age, children give great importance assessments given to them by adults. The child does not expect such an assessment, but actively seeks it himself, strives to receive praise, and tries very hard to earn it. All this indicates that the child has already entered a period of development that is sensitive to the formation and strengthening of his motivation to achieve success and a number of other vitally useful personal qualities, which in the future will have to ensure the success of his educational, professional and other activities.

IV. Junior school age. A feature of children of primary school age, which makes them similar to preschoolers, but intensifies even more when they enter school, is boundless trust in adults, mainly teachers, submission and imitation of them. Children of this age fully recognize the authority of an adult and almost unconditionally accept his assessments. Even when characterizing himself as a person, a junior schoolchild basically only repeats what an adult says about him.

This directly relates to such an important personal education, which is consolidated in at this age as self-esteem. It directly depends on the nature of the assessments given to the adult child and his success in various activities. Younger schoolchildren, unlike preschoolers, already have self-esteem of various types: adequate, overestimated and underestimated.

Self-esteem in primary school age is formed mainly under the influence of teacher assessments.

Children attach particular importance to their intellectual capabilities and how they are assessed by others. It is important for children that a positive assessment is generally recognized.

The family factor is the main factor in the development of self-esteem.

Whatever forms the family takes, it is still the most important unit of society. It is in the family that the child first discovers whether he is loved, whether he is accepted for who he is, whether success or failure accompanies him. According to many psychologists, it is in the first five years of life that a person’s personality structure is mainly formed and the foundations of the self-concept are laid. During this period, the child is especially vulnerable and dependent, emotionally dependent on the family, in which his needs are fully or not fully met. Therefore, it is very important to inform people, and above all parents, about the problems, difficulties and consequences that arise when wrong attitude to the child.

1. The influence of family members on the development of self-esteem.

Self-esteem is related to family size and seniority among children. In Coopersmith's studies, 70% of children with low and average self-esteem were not first-born. At the same time, in the group with high self-esteem, only 42% of children were not first-born. The first and only children in the family apparently have certain advantages: the conditions in which they develop are more favorable for the formation of high self-esteem.

According to the study, boys with high self-esteem had close relationships with their siblings rather than conflict. This harmony in relationships, apparently, extends beyond the family, because a high self-evaluation ensures good command of the technique of social contacts, allows the individual to show his worth without making any effort special effort. The child acquired the ability to cooperate in the family, the confidence that he is surrounded by love, care and attention. All this creates a solid foundation for his social development. In families of this type, jealousy and rivalry between children are rare.

Mothers of boys with high self-esteem say they know more than half of their son's friends. On the contrary, a third of mothers of boys with low self-esteem practically do not know which peers their son is friends with. It is likely that such ignorance of parents can be regarded as evidence of the child’s distrust of them, due to his assessment of his role and position in the family.

2. Accepting and pushing away the child

If the parents internally accept the child, and the relationships in the family are initially healthy, then the value of the child for the parents does not appear as his merit, but as something self-evident. It is enough for parents that this is their child. They accept him for who he is, regardless of his mental or physical characteristics.

On the contrary, if parents do not internally accept the child, he turns out to be uninteresting to them, unpleasant, and causes disapproval. For such parents, raising a child involves a lot of financial difficulties and social responsibility. But the child’s rejection, expressed in the form overprotectiveness, no less harmful than constant inattention to it or irritability.

A clearly expressed attitude of parents toward unconditional acceptance of their child is not an absolutely necessary prerequisite for the formation of high self-esteem. Among the mothers whose children have it, there were also those who did not express any particular readiness to accept the child as a whole. This indicates that the child’s opinion about his parents’ unconditional acceptance is, according to at least, as significant as the real type family relations and parenting methods used by parents.

3. Leniency and demandingness in education

Already in the early days of the development of psychoanalysis, its followers called for adherence to softer methods of education, which, accordingly, presupposed freedom of expression of the dissatisfaction of the child’s internal impulses. However, the results of Coopersmith's study rather indicate the need to build relationships with a child on the basis of exactingness. A clear and reasonable system of requirements for the child should be the basis for correct family education.

Clear requirements and clearly defined standards of life in the family contribute to the formation of high self-esteem in children. Children with high self-esteem show greater solidarity with the views accepted in their family. And although rewards were more common in the upbringing of these children, punishments were perceived by them as something deserved and fair. If a child is given complete freedom to explore the world around him, if no one limits or directs his activities, if the educational slogan of his parents is gentleness and permissiveness, the result of this is usually increased anxiety, doubts about his own worth, low level success and ultimately the inability to build strong relationships with people based on mutual respect.

Apparently, the child perceives punishment in the context of all other manifestations of the parents’ attitude towards him. An attentive and caring attitude towards the child, combined with exactingness, makes it unnecessary severe punishments. Apparently, the secret to developing high self-esteem lies in a favorable attitude towards the child, a willingness to accept him as he is, but at the same time, the ability to set certain boundaries.

4. Family breakdown.

Divorce of parents and conflicting relationships between them become a source of problems for the child. It is common knowledge that emotional distress and delinquency among adolescents are often associated with parental separation. Children from families where parents are divorced are more prone to low self-esteem than children growing up in intact families. Children whose parents have died do not have significant deviations in their level of self-esteem. Thus, the gap between parents has a certain negative, although insignificant, effect on the child’s level of self-esteem.

5. Birth order of children.

Along with parents and friends, a child's brothers and sisters form a significant part of his social environment. They influence him not only directly as family members, but their very presence inevitably affects the child's relationship with his parents. A child's self-esteem is not related to the birth order of children in the family. The very fact of having brothers and sisters is important, and the only child in the family has higher self-esteem on average.

Interestingly, however, this only applies to boys. If the only child in the family is a girl, her self-esteem is, on average, the same as that of girls with brothers or sisters. Rosenberg's study attempted to differentiate the effect on a child's self-esteem of having elders and younger brothers and sisters. For boys, if the majority of children in the family are also boys, self-esteem is on average lower than if half or most of the children are girls. These factors do not have a significant impact on the level of self-esteem of girls.

A boy growing up in a family where the older children are predominantly girls usually has high self-esteem. It would seem that there is reason to expect just the opposite: for example, identification with older sisters can lead to the appearance of “girlish” traits in a boy, which makes him a potential target for ridicule from his comrades. At the same time, this position in the family has a number of advantages. Rosenberg believes that the key factor for the formation of self-esteem in in this case is the attitude in the family towards the appearance of a boy.

A father who already has several daughters usually wants a son. In the end social status The family depends mainly on the achievements of men, so in the future the main hopes are placed on the son: he is called upon to become the support of the family in the future. And the later the son appears, the more desirable he becomes for the father.

But mothers who have daughters usually want a son to be born. As convincingly shown in the study by Sears, Maccoby and Levine, the mother's attitude towards the boy, who appeared after several girls, is characterized by exceptional warmth and tenderness. All this helps to understand the peculiarities of the formation of self-esteem in such children: it is not based on competitive relationships with peers, not on academic achievements or success in social situations, but rather reflects the initial sense of self-worth, due to the special care and love that surrounds this child in the family. At least during his childhood, he should enjoy the favor of the whole family. His father was looking forward to his birth, his mother feels extraordinary tenderness for him, and in the eyes of his sisters he looks like a priceless creature. Is it surprising that such a child grows up with a sense of unconditional self-worth?

However, it should be noted that such children usually study worse than their peers. A persistent sense of self-satisfaction often keeps them from striving for improvement. After all, an important motive for successful study at school is the desire to prove one’s worth to oneself and others, but these children do not need to prove anything, because... their value is determined by the conditions of family education.

6. Parents' interest in the child

Three areas of relationships can be identified that are especially significant as sources of feedback that influence the formation of self-esteem in children:

· parents' knowledge of the child's friends;

· parents' interest in the child's educational results;

· interaction between parents and child in a general conversation at the table.

Relationships in these three areas can serve as an indicator of interest in the well-being and development of the child. Let's consider each of these provisions.

In primary school and adolescence emotional life a child is largely determined by his circle of friends, who can act as the main extension of himself. Therefore, the parents' reaction to their son or daughter's friends is an indirect indicator of their interest in the child. The obvious indifference of parents contributes to the formation of low self-esteem in the child.

Interest in the child's educational results - important indicator general interest of parents in the child. One of the opportunities to judge how a child is doing at school is provided by a school diary. Therefore, the reaction of parents to current entries in the diary characterizes their attitude to the child’s education as a whole, to his abilities and personal qualities.

Low self-esteem is not associated with punishment, but with the indifferent reaction of parents to the child’s school grades. At the same time, the lowest level of self-esteem was recorded in those children who stated: “Mom doesn’t pay attention to my grades at all.”

The self-esteem of children whose parents were guided by the principle of support was naturally higher than the self-esteem of those who reported an indifferent parental response.

Parents who are indifferent to their child's academic success are not interested in their child at all. Even if a father or mother scolds a child or punishes him for bad grades at school, this is still a manifestation of interest and care for him.

Every evening the whole family usually meets at the dinner table. From the point of view of the interest shown by parents in the child, this situation is indicative, since it reflects the diversity of family relationships.

A child's self-esteem is closely related to his perception of how others are interested in him. The conviction that other people are interested or not interested in him is determined by the content of his self-concept as a whole. If the child does not adhere particularly high opinion about himself, he is inclined to believe that others are not interested in his thoughts and activities. Some details in the behavior and attitude of parents constantly reinforce this belief. After all, the child has a wealth of experience communicating with his parents and is able to detect the slightest signs of interest or inattention to what he says. One of the parents, in response to his words, yawned, interrupted him or changed the topic of conversation, in their eyes he sees absent-mindedness and indifference, or, on the contrary, his opinion is listened to carefully, evokes a lively response, approving remarks or reasonable objections - for all of these By these signs, the child unmistakably guesses whether he is interesting or completely indifferent to those around him.

The connection that exists between parental indifference and low self-esteem of the child does not depend on any status or role characteristics. In the same way, the reasons for the formation of low self-esteem do not lie in whether parents adhere to soft or strict line education, and not whether the child considers the punishment to which he is subjected to be justified. The lack of positive involvement in the cares and interests of the child is most often accompanied by a lack of love, inability to treat him with respect, irritability and inattention in communicating with him. Whatever types of parental behavior are associated with these attitudes, one thing is absolutely clear: the child must feel important, valuable for other people who are called upon to take care of him. This feeling seems to be a decisive factor for the formation of positive self-esteem.

The role of broader social factors in the formation of a child’s self-esteem seems insignificant.

Thus, the formation of self-esteem is influenced by a number of conditions:

1. Conditions for the formation of low self-esteem

Low self-esteem is closely related to parents’ attempts to develop their child’s ability to adapt to adaptive behavior. This is expressed in the following requirements for him: obedience; the ability to adapt to other people; dependence on adults Everyday life; neatness; conflict-free interaction with peers. Apparently, success achieved by the ability to adapt to the desires of other people, and not on the basis of personal achievements, leads to the formation of low self-esteem.

The desire of parents to put their children in a subordinate, dependent position leads to a decrease in self-esteem. The child in this situation turns out to be psychologically broken, he does not trust the world around him, he lacks a sense of his own personal value.

2. Conditions for the formation of average self-esteem

Parents of children with low self-esteem are more likely to take a patronizing, condescending position towards them. Modest goals allow them to accept their children for who they are and be tolerant of their behavior. At the same time, various independent actions of children cause anxiety in parents. Acquisition of independent personal experience Outside the home for children in this group is usually limited.

3. Conditions for the formation of high self-esteem

Mothers of children with high self-esteem are satisfied with their son's relationship with his father. The children themselves also considered their father their main confidant.

An important feature of families in this group is clear, pre-established authority in decision-making, unambiguous expression of authority and responsibility. One parent takes on major decisions that the whole family agrees on. Less fundamental decisions on various everyday issues are generally made collectively. Relevant Standards family behavior enjoy general support in such families. There is an atmosphere of mutual trust here, each family member feels included in the common home circle. In most cases, the main decisions are made by the father, but what is more important for the formation of high self-esteem is that these decisions are approved by the whole family.

Thus, high self-esteem develops in children in families characterized by cohesion and solidarity. The mother’s attitude towards herself and her husband is more positive here. In the eyes of a child, parents are always successful. He readily follows the behavioral patterns they set, persistently and successfully solves the daily tasks that confront him, because he feels confident in his abilities. He is less susceptible to stress and anxiety, perceives kindly and realistically the world and myself.

Boys with high self-esteem have a higher level of aspirations than their peers. This is because their parents are more emphatic in emphasizing the value of “striving” for excellence. They orient the child towards certain standards, create feedback in the form of their value judgments and indicate to him necessary funds to achieve greater success. A child with high self-esteem is taught to constantly test his abilities, recognizing and recognizing his strengths and weaknesses. Thus, children with high self-esteem set higher goals for themselves and are more likely to achieve success. Conversely, children with low self-esteem are characterized by very modest goals and uncertainty about the possibility of achieving them.

Parents' expectations (or lack thereof) are an important factor directing the child's personal development in a certain direction), which is especially clearly manifested within the school walls in the form of predetermined successes or failures.

The behavior of people with high self-esteem is opposite to the picture of behavior of people experiencing self-esteem, well known to psychotherapists. depressive state. The latter are characterized by passivity, lack of self-confidence, in the correctness of their observations and judgments; they do not find the strength to influence other people, resist them, and cannot easily and without internal hesitation express their opinion.

Social factors

As mentioned above, general self-esteem is formed at primary school age. But there are also private self-esteem, which are situational and can fluctuate. Fluctuations in private self-esteem cause situational changes in a person’s life: success or failure, comparison of oneself with others, the influence of society, etc.

1. The influence of society in preschool age.

The social environment does not fully satisfy the needs of children that are significant for the development of adequate self-esteem in preschool age, which in turn has a negative impact on the formation of the child’s internal position. Thus, in particular, the assessment system that exists in the child’s immediate environment (in the family, kindergarten) and is considered by psychologists as a factor in the social determination of his personal development does not meet a number of psychological and pedagogical requirements. Firstly, a number of individual and age differences the child's needs to receive external assessment; secondly, it does not correspond to the meaning and significance of pedagogical assessment, which, when used competently, ensures adequate development of various spheres of the child’s personality - emotional, intellectual, moral, motivational, etc. The full implementation of sociocultural development is not achieved due to a decrease in the priority of sociocultural models and the presence in social environment child of a distorted system of reference ideas.

2. The position of the family in society.

If a person's self-esteem is determined by other people's opinions of him, then there is reason to expect that among representatives of the upper classes it will be maximum. The position young people occupy in society is based not on their own achievements, but on the social status of their parents. Therefore, it is quite possible that in adolescence a sense of self-worth is determined more by the opinions of relatives, friends, and neighbors than by social prestige as such.

Children from the upper classes are, on average, more likely to internally accept themselves than children belonging to the lower classes.

In families belonging to the upper strata of society, parents behave differently towards their sons and are guided by different values ​​than parents from the lower classes. In relation to daughters, the difference is much less noticeable. These differences in the behavior and values ​​of parents correlate with the level of self-esteem of children. In middle-class families, sons receive more psychological support from their father than in working-class families. Daughters in both classes can count on their father's support to approximately the same extent. Subjects who describe their relationship with their father as close have higher self-esteem and a more stable self-image than those who report the conflictual, alienated nature of this relationship. This suggests that one of the reasons for high self-esteem in children is the child’s close relationship with his father, that is, that the structure of family relationships plays an important role in the formation of self-esteem.

3. Impact of failure.

A decrease in general self-esteem under the influence of experimental failure is accompanied in some subjects by the appearance of thoughts about death, and a successful test of a highly valued ability causes a significant increase in the level of self-esteem of other qualities. According to some data, an increase in general self-esteem under the influence of private success is more common than its decrease due to failure.

According to American psychologist Ruth Wiley, who critically analyzed existing empirical research, the presence or absence of shifts in self-esteem under the influence of experimental failure may depend on a number of factors: personal characteristics the subject, for example, the general level of self-esteem and anxiety; specific qualities that were devalued in the experiment; how the subject evaluates the source of information about his defeat or success and how much he trusts this source. Wiley concluded that in most cases, “the subject is guided not only by the desire for self-affirmation, but also by objective considerations. The deterioration in performance indicators and the increase in anxiety due to experimental failure may be greater in subjects with a low general level of self-esteem.” In other words, any experimental or life situation is experienced and assessed by the subject in the light of his long-term experience, including his past self-esteem. A person with low self-esteem will experience any personal failure more deeply than a calm and self-confident person.

4. Principles of “self” that influence self-esteem.

The principle of internalization of other people's assessments is the theory of the reflected, mirror “I” (the concept of Cooley and Mead). A person’s self-image largely depends on how others evaluate him, especially if this is a collective, group assessment. Under the influence of favorable opinions, self-esteem increases, and under the influence of unfavorable opinions, self-esteem decreases. Often such a shift is quite stable, and along with the main self-assessments, those that were not directly affected by the assessment of others often change. For example, a person who receives inflated evaluations on behalf of the group increases over time general level claims that go beyond those qualities that were noted as positive.

Changes, under the influence of external assessments, of the “image of the self,” as well as social and moral attitudes, are more significant if the subject thinks that significant persons for him (for example, workmates) are unanimous in assessing his qualities or behavior than in those cases when their opinions differ. Finally, different people are unequally sensitive and receptive to other people's opinions, ranging from complete indifference to a complete restructuring of their own “self” in accordance with the desires of others.

Internalization of other people's opinions involves both social comparison and attributional processes (usually, people first attribute to others this or that attitude towards themselves, and then accept or reject it as an assessment criterion), and the selection of information in accordance with the already existing “Image of Self” and value criteria.

The principle of social comparison. Although many elements of our “I” appear to be purely descriptive, factual, in most cases they are relative and tacitly imply some kind of quantitative or qualitative comparison. Firstly, the individual compares his present “I” with the past or future, and his aspirations with his achievements. Secondly, he compares himself with other people.

One person is unbearably ashamed that he is the second, and not the first, glove in the world, another rejoices at the victory at regional competitions. The higher the level of aspirations, the more difficult it is to satisfy them.

Although private self-assessments are important indicators, indicators of how a person perceives “sees” himself, they still remain local and do not allow one to judge the structure and dynamics of the individual’s self-awareness as a whole. To capture the human “I” in its unity, much more complex research and theoretical models are needed.

Factor physical self-image influencing the development of self-esteem

An analysis of the literature shows that physically disabled people have significant problems in the sphere of interpersonal perception and communication, as well as difficulties in self-acceptance. Stunkart A. and Mendelsohn M., based on interviews with 94 people, argue that obese people tend to evaluate their physical appearance as “ridiculous” and “disgusting.” At the behavioral level, in the most typical cases, this type of self-attitude leads to a narrowing of the circle of friends, inactivity, confinement within the four walls of the house, which returns to self-awareness in the form negative feelings to Ya.

During school years, a child’s appearance largely determines the attitude of peers and teachers towards him, which significantly affects his overall self-esteem. It is known how cruelly children suffer, in their own ways. physical features stand out from the class. Usually these are outcast children, “scapegoats”, the subject of ridicule and bullying - “uncle, get the sparrow”, “fat trust-meat-processing plant”, “bespectacled”, “red-haired, red-haired, freckled”, etc. in the same way, even to the point of attributing negative mental qualities to children with physical disabilities. Children with noticeable deviations in physical development in to a greater extent are subject to the adverse influence of the socio-psychological environment, which contributes to the formation of a negative self-concept, dependence on the environment or rebellion against it.

Self-esteem is closely related to the expected parental assessment - the so-called “echo-self-esteem,” or a mirror reflection in the self-esteem of the parent’s vision of the child and emotional attitude towards him. “I’m sick - that’s what my mother thinks,” “I’m honest. That’s what mom says,” “Mom says I’m selfish. The way it is". Even when independently coming up with free self-assessment scales, children often say: “According to my parents, I...”, “Mom often tells me that I...”. Self-esteem seems to lag behind in its development, continuing to remain a “linear function” of the parents’ attitude towards the teenager. This creates an extremely traumatic situation for the child. Trying to hide from unfavorably developing relationships outside family circle, an overweight child in his family is faced with a lack of truly deep feelings and emotional rejection parents, which further exacerbates his feelings of inferiority.

So, in each age period, the formation of self-esteem is predominantly influenced by the activity that is leading at this age. At primary school age, educational activity is the leading activity; It is precisely on its progress that the formation of a child’s self-esteem depends to a decisive extent; it is directly related to his academic performance and success in learning. Teaching, as a leading activity, begins to correct the formation of personality literally from the first months of a child’s arrival at school. Moreover psychological research show that the self-esteem of younger schoolchildren is still far from independent; it is dominated by the assessments of others, especially the teacher’s assessments. U good students As a rule, a high, often inflated self-esteem is formed; in the weak, a low, often underestimated one. However, lagging schoolchildren do not easily put up with low assessments of their activities and personality traits - conflict situations arise that increase the child’s emotional stress, excitement and confusion. Weak students gradually begin to develop self-doubt, anxiety, timidity, they feel bad among classmates, and are wary of adults.

Anxiety is a constantly or situationally manifested property of a person to come into a state of increased anxiety, to experience fear and anxiety in specific social situations associated either with examination tests, or with increased emotional or physical stress generated by reasons of a different nature.

Children with low self-esteem often experience a state of anxiety and fear of upcoming tests of any nature. This may be the reason for their failure, cautious attitude towards peers, parents, teachers. This creates a fear of doing something wrong.

Low self-esteem can also prevent a student from communicating with peers, caused by fear of ridicule.

A different set of personal qualities begins to take shape in strong students due to high self-esteem. They are distinguished by self-confidence, often turning into excessive self-confidence, and the habit of being first and exemplary.

Both underestimation and overestimation of one’s strengths and capabilities is far from a harmless phenomenon for a student. The habit of a certain position in the class group - “weak”, “average” or “strong”, which sets the tone for learning - gradually leaves its mark on all aspects of the child’s life. In the social life of the class, excellent students claim central roles; weak students, at best, get only the roles of performers. And all the children’s relationships also begin to take shape under the influence of this, dividing the class according to the results of educational activities. The “stars” to whom peers are most drawn in elementary school are those children whose diaries are dominated by A’s. This should not be allowed, because every child is successful in a certain area of ​​activity.

Based on the above, we can identify the main components of self-esteem of younger schoolchildren: the attitude of parents and others, support and respect in the class team, the attitude of the child himself towards school.

Primary school age requires a special attitude towards oneself, therefore the formation of adequate self-esteem is carried out through educational and gaming activities.

Self-esteem is a complex dynamic personal formation, one of the parameters of mental activity. Inflated self-esteem leads to the formation of such personality traits as self-confidence, arrogance, uncriticality, etc. Constant underestimation of a child by others and the individual himself creates timidity, lack of self-confidence, isolation, shyness, etc. Adequate assessment and self-esteem ensures a favorable emotional state, stimulates activity, and instills confidence in the primary school student in achieving his goals.

CONCLUSIONS ON THE FIRST CHAPTER

Knowing a person’s self-esteem is very important for establishing relationships with him, for normal communication, in which people, as social beings, inevitably engage. It is especially important to consider the child’s self-esteem. Like everything in him, it is still being formed and therefore, to a greater extent than in an adult, is susceptible to influence and change.

Having mastered certain norms and values ​​in the process of learning and upbringing, the student begins, under the influence of the value judgments of others (teachers, peers), to relate in a certain way, both to the real results of his educational activities, and to himself as an individual. With age, he increasingly distinguishes between his actual achievements and what he could achieve if he possessed certain personal qualities. Thus, in the educational process, the student develops an attitude towards assessing his capabilities - one of the main components of self-esteem.

Self-esteem reflects the child’s ideas about both what he has already achieved and what he is striving for, the project of his future - albeit still imperfect, but playing a huge role in the self-regulation of his behavior in general and educational activities in particular.

Self-esteem reflects what the child learns about himself from others, and his increasing own activity aimed at realizing his actions and personal qualities.

A child’s self-esteem reflects not only his attitude towards what has already been achieved, but also what he would like to be, his aspirations and hopes. Self-esteem is closely related to what a person aspires to.

A child is not born with some kind of attitude towards himself. Like all other personality traits, his self-esteem develops in the process of education, in which the main role belongs to the family and school.

The conceptual program states that initial training should be aimed at increasing the level of socially significant motive for educational activities, bringing children to a higher level of education and spiritual and moral education, and developing the ability to live in harmony with themselves and the world around them.

I see one of the ways to solve these problems in developing in a child the ability to analyze his activities, actions, and behavior. I believe that self-esteem is an important factor in the formation of personality. It allows a person to make active choices in a wide variety of life situations, determines the level of his aspirations and values.

If you open Ozhegov’s dictionary, then we read there: self-esteem is an assessment of oneself, one’s strengths and weaknesses. And evaluation is an opinion about the value, level or significance of someone - something.

In dictionary practical psychologist(compiled by Golovin) it is written: “Self-esteem is a person’s assessment of himself, his capabilities, quality and place among other people.”

For an elementary school student, I believe that self-esteem is an assessment of oneself, one's capabilities, strengths and weaknesses. To do this you need to know yourself. Is what others think of us always the same? The question of developing self-esteem, its formation in a child - the most important question, determining the development of his personality.

Self-esteem is externally expressed in how a person evaluates the capabilities and results of his activities and the activities of others.

A high self-evaluation– a person believes in himself, feels “on horseback,” but sometimes, being confident in his infallibility, he can find himself in a difficult situation when he needs to abandon the usual view of things and admit that someone else is right.
If a child has high self-esteem, negative personality development is possible: arrogance, conceit, and rudeness develop.

Adequate self-esteem– a person really evaluates himself, sees both his positive and negative qualities. It is able to adapt to changing environmental conditions.

Adequate self-esteem leads to the development of positive personality traits: goodwill, mutual assistance, will, patience, etc.

Low self-esteem characteristic of people who tend to doubt themselves, take comments and dissatisfaction of other people personally, worry and worry about insignificant reasons. Such people are often unsure of themselves, they find it difficult to make decisions, and the need to insist on their own. They are very sensitive.

Low self-esteem manifests itself in increased anxiety, constant fear of a negative opinion about oneself, increased vulnerability, which encourages a person to reduce contacts with other people. Low self-esteem destroys a person’s hopes for a good attitude towards him and success, and he perceives his real successes and the positive assessment of others as temporary and accidental. For a person with low self-esteem, many problems seem insoluble; these people are very vulnerable, their mood is subject to frequent fluctuations, they react more sharply to criticism, laughter, and reproach. They are more dependent.
You can increase your self-esteem by either maximizing success or minimizing failure. The discrepancy between a person’s aspirations and actual behavior leads to distortions in self-esteem. The higher the aspirations, the greater the successes must be for a person to feel satisfied.

In younger schoolchildren, self-esteem is based on the opinions and assessments of others and is acquired in finished form, without critical analysis.

Methods for determining the self-esteem of junior schoolchildren

To determine the self-esteem of younger schoolchildren, you can use the “Ladder” technique, the method of studying self-esteem (Dembo-Rubinstein) “What am I?”

1) Methodology "Ladder"

Draw a staircase of 7 steps on a piece of paper.
We show the child the ladder and say that the worst boys and girls are on the lowest step.
On the second - a little better, but on the top step there are the nicest, kindest and smartest boys and girls.
What level would you place yourself on? (Draw yourself on this step. You can draw 0 if it is difficult for your child to draw a person).

Processing the results:
1-2 step - low level of self-esteem (low);
3-5 step - average level of self-esteem (correct);
Step 6-7 - high level of self-esteem (inflated).

2) Method “What am I?”

Methodology, “What Am I?” is intended to determine the self-esteem of a child aged 6-9. The experimenter, using the protocol presented below, asks the child how he perceives himself and evaluates himself according to ten different positive qualities personality. The assessments offered by the child to himself are provided by the experimenter in the appropriate columns of the protocol, and then converted into points.

Evaluation of results
answers like “yes” are scored 1 point,
answers like “no” are scored 0 points
Answers like “I don’t know” or “sometimes” are scored 0.5 points.
The level of self-esteem is determined by the total points scored by the child on all personality traits.

“What am I?”

Yes No I don’t know, sometimes

1. Good
2. Kind
3. Smart
4. Careful
5. Obedient
6. Attentive
7. Polite
8. Skillful (capable)
9. Hardworking
10. Honest

Conclusions about the level of development of self-esteem:

10 points - very high

8-9 points - high

4-7 points - average

2-3 points - low

1-0 point - very low

Having conducted such a study in the first grade, it turned out that the majority of children had high self-esteem, 15 students had adequate self-esteem, 3 students had adequate self-esteem, and 8 students had low self-esteem.

According to the age norm, the student’s self-esteem is high. It should be noted that the child’s answers to some questions (for example, obedient, honest) may indicate the adequacy of self-esteem. So, for example, if, along with the answers “yes” to all questions, the child claims that he is “always obedient”, “always honest”, we can assume that he is not always sufficiently critical of himself. The adequacy of self-esteem can be checked by comparing the child’s answer to on this scale with the parent’s answers about the child on the same personal qualities.

Through self-esteem, a child goes through the following stages: the need for self-development, self-knowledge, and self-control.
Self-control must be practiced in order to enjoy trust in the team, to bring goodness to people, to respect oneself and to be respected. In Russian psychology, the issue of the influence of self-esteem on human cognitive activity has been developed, methods for forming adequate self-esteem have been identified, and in case of its deformation, methods for its transformation through educational influences have been identified. And it is precisely at primary school age that one of the main psychological new formations is reflection - the ability to observe and evaluate oneself. Such an analysis allows you to evaluate yourself, compare your achievements with others, record changes in yourself today in comparison with yourself yesterday, imagine yourself tomorrow. The student must see his progress, his successes and gaps in knowledge. Having identified his ignorance, he has the opportunity to improve his work and achieve success. This is essential for motivational learning. The child has a need to improve his work on his own initiative.

The teacher clearly sees the process of formation of subject knowledge in students and provides targeted and timely correction.

However, in order to establish feedback with the child during teaching, in my opinion, the teacher should have a selection of “teacher words” addressed to the child. This is especially true for first-graders, as they are going through a period of adaptation to school.
Therefore, I am trying to make a selection of phrases that stimulate the student’s active creative position, evoke support and approval, a desire to do the work better, stimulate students to introspection, evoke a desire to think, change their attitude towards work.

• Well done!
• Amazing!
• Smart ass! Good girl!
• You surprised me!
• Beautiful design of the work!
• Amazing!
• Wonderful!
• Great!
• I'm proud of you!
• You made me happy!
• I like the way you work!
• This is truly progress!
• Thank you!
• Everything is going great!
• Okay, thank you!
• I'm glad I tried it, even though it didn't turn out the way you expected.
• Finally you got it! I'm very happy for you!
• I am the happiest teacher today! Thank you for... accuracy, diligence, beautiful recording, accuracy in completing tasks.

• I am grateful to you for...
• I am grateful to you for...
• You will succeed.
• I believe in your success.
• Your attitude towards homework has changed. Well done!
• I respect your persistence in achieving a good result.

I believe that these phrases will help teachers in assessing both the oral and written achievements of younger schoolchildren, establishing mutual understanding and trust between the teacher and children, and making the pedagogical process humane and aimed at developing the child’s personality.

The following words stimulate students to self-esteem, evoke a desire to think and change their attitude towards their work:

• Do you like it?
• How do you feel about this?
• Are you pleased (satisfied) with your result?
• I was really looking forward to this, and you?
• You have me puzzled.
• What happened to you?
• What happened to you?
• Try not to rush when completing the task.

It is very important not to use the following expressions when communicating with children:

• I told you a thousand times that...
• how many times should I repeat...
• what are you thinking about...
• Is it really difficult for you to remember that...
• you become...
• you're just like...
• leave me alone, I have no time...
• why is Lena (Nastya, Vasya, etc.) like this, and you are not...

Thus, we teachers must notice the child’s achievements in time, support him, be surprised by his talents in time, thereby forming a positive self-esteem and helping to successfully develop and grow as individuals.
This topic is very relevant, since the teacher’s task, first of all, is to increase the motivation of learning and its effectiveness, and adequate self-esteem of the student helps to solve this problem quite effectively. The only difficulty is to achieve adequate self-esteem in each student. For this purpose, already in the 1st grade it is necessary to begin to form such self-esteem. The control and evaluation system also sets us an important social task: to develop in schoolchildren the ability to check and control themselves, critically evaluate their activities, find errors and ways to eliminate them.
As practice has shown, the level of self-esteem determines the activity of the individual, his desire for self-education, and his participation in the life of the team. Self-esteem is formed primarily under the influence of the results of educational activities, especially in children younger age. These definitions appear in comparison with the real capabilities of a primary school student. Self-esteem does not remain stable, depending on success in activities, age characteristics it tends to change.

The main factors on which the development of self-esteem in younger schoolchildren depends are: Mark, features of communication between teachers and students, style of home education. But the greatest influence on the development of self-esteem is exerted by the school assessment of academic performance; it is essentially an assessment of the personality as a whole and determines the social status of the child, therefore it is necessary to distinguish between assessment of activity and assessment of personality and not transfer one to the other. Younger schoolchildren perceive negative feedback about their work as an assessment: you - bad person. Traditionally, grades are used for assessment in school. This system has significant drawbacks: children underestimate the teacher’s grades and the subjectivity of the grades given. The assessment sentence puts children in a hopeless situation.

Its use is especially dangerous when teaching children in first and second grade. The teacher's assessment is the main motive and measure of their efforts, their aspirations for success, so there is no need to compare him with other children, but show him positive results own work before and now. Teachers need to not only stop giving grades to students in grades 1 and 2, but also rebuild their entire assessment activities.

Self-esteem plays a special role in assessing the educational activities of beginning students. The peculiarity of self-assessment is that it must precede teacher assessment. The importance of self-esteem is that it allows a child to see his strengths. and weaknesses of their work, and gets the opportunity to build their own program for future activities.

By analyzing the literature on the problem under study, we can make recommendations for teachers on the formation of self-esteem in younger schoolchildren:

1. Assessment should serve the main goal - to stimulate and direct the educational and cognitive activity of the student. The teacher must give meaningful assessment of the student's work. The process of educational and cognitive activity will be perfect only when assessment does not complete it, but accompanies it at all stages.
2. In educational activities, it is necessary to compare children who have approximately the same abilities, but achieve different results in educational activities due to different attitude to learning.
3. It is necessary to use peer review, while noting strengths and weaknesses when expressing opinions about the assessment. After review, the work is returned to the author and students independently analyze their work.
4. Offer to provide assistance to a low-performing student with low self-esteem to provide assistance to a low-performing junior student.
5. It is necessary to include situations that update the child’s self-esteem, challenge him to understand the specifics of his work, its strengths and weaknesses, and contribute to the child’s focus on own ways actions.
6. It is necessary to carry out work on mistakes, in which students take notes according to a special scheme, analyzing and evaluating their work in the lesson, determining the degree of mastery of the material, the degree of its complexity, highlighting the most difficult moments work.

Introduction of the self-assessment procedure into the pedagogical process.

Using the technique of comparison to show the student his own, even if very small, progress compared to yesterday, we strengthen and raise confidence in ourselves and our capabilities. To develop adequate self-esteem, it is necessary to create an atmosphere in the classroom psychological comfort and support. To this end, already in the 1st grade, I try to create a situation of success for each student in the lesson, using multi-level forms of work for this, and introducing a system of self-assessment. With colored pencils, please draw symbols in the margins: “plus” (+) - the task was completed correctly; “minus” (-) the task was completed incorrectly or not completed at all; “circle” (-) - the task has not been completed in full or raises doubts in the child.

RIGHT
- FALSE - DOUBT

Only then is there a test on the board or in front, and the child compares his assessment with the real one. Having collected the notebooks, I find out the adequacy of self-esteem, record individual achievements on the sheet, and in the child’s notebook I circle only the adequate assessment in red. At the end of the quarter, I sum up the results and praise each child for their efforts and note their success in real self-assessment of the results achieved and express confidence that the child will definitely achieve the desired result if he has high self-esteem, and also show the positive dynamics of performance to those who have low self-esteem. As a result, each child feels comfortable and confident in further success, which contributes to motivation for further educational activities.

To identify the psychological atmosphere in the lessons, I used symbols different moods, suggested that at the end of the lesson the children should draw a sun with a face and facial expressions to show their mood or evaluate their learning of new material.

Most often, the children drew a smile, which, of course, lifted my mood. If the facial expressions were sad, this gave me the opportunity to promptly provide the child with the necessary help and work with him individually. With such children, I conduct additional classes after school, giving them the opportunity to raise the level of learning performance to their self-esteem. As a result, at the end of 1st grade, all students coped with the program and learned to read and write in accordance with the standard.

Self-esteem influences whether a child begins to abuse alcohol or drugs, whether he or she becomes sexually active early, and his or her susceptibility to painful or negative peer pressure.
Self-esteem and self-esteem appear in children in early childhood. Almost from the very beginning, some children learn many good things about themselves while experiencing positive emotions, thereby gaining a feeling self-importance and dignity. They are able to recognize and appreciate their own talents, achievements and their appearance. They are also able to adequately assess their shortcomings and mistakes, understanding that occasional failure is an integral part of life and the learning process.
But other children experience completely different feelings. They were instilled with a feeling of inadequacy and inadequacy, after which they believed that they were unable to achieve or change anything in their lives. Such children may be withdrawn and distrustful, they have a negative attitude towards close public attention, and they fear that they will not be able to cope with the situation.

What is self-esteem in a school-aged child?

By definition, self-esteem is how a person feels about himself; in other words, your own thoughts and feelings about yourself and your ability to achieve something very important for yourself in life. Self-esteem is not limited only to the child’s own perceptions and hopes - the perceptions and hopes of people important to the child are also of no small importance, that is, what opinion and attitude exist towards him from parents, teachers and friends. The closer a child's self-perception (how he feels himself) to the ideal he has for himself (what he would like to be), the higher his sense of self-worth or self-esteem.
Self-esteem develops as a result of the interaction of a child’s biological, innate characteristics (such as temperament, mental abilities, physical characteristics) with environmental and contextual influences (such as parents' parenting styles and financial position, as well as his relationships with other adults and peers). Already in the first months of life, the child begins to develop a sense of self, a concept of his own personality, as well as a feeling of confidence in mastering certain aspects of his environment. For example, a baby very quickly learns that crying or smiling elicits an immediate and, hopefully, positive response from one of the parents, which helps strengthen his sense of trust, security, control, and self-importance. As a child progresses through the early childhood and preschool stages, his self-esteem continues to be shaped largely by the parents' verbal and nonverbal reactions to the child: their praise and criticism, smiles and other expressions of emotion, and mutual hugs. Other important influencing factors include the level of independence and a sense of self-confidence in one's ability to achieve one's goals. In more mature age a teenager needs to experience positive emotions towards himself in order to independently settle in life outside the family. This includes some success in school and successful interactions with peers. At this age, a child's self-esteem has a major influence on his achievements, social interactions and emotional state both in childhood and in adulthood.
A child's self-esteem may vary from day to day or from situation to situation, although self-esteem becomes more stable over the years. In general, the child will seek out activities and relationships in which he feels successful, which can act as a shock absorber against stress and help him gain a positive sense of well-being when the child is not feeling well. A teenager with high self-esteem feels like a talented person who is able to set realistic goals and achieve them. A child with low self-esteem will often settle for satisfactory results and achievements in the classroom and in later life. Such children may experience feelings of shame, depression and failure because they lack any satisfactory achievements in life and cannot earn the recognition and respect of others. At the same time, children with low self-esteem are more likely to try to fit in with their peers and seek their approval by emulating their behavior patterns and accepting their values ​​in order to gain acceptance, feel like one of them, and gain self-esteem. The behavior and values ​​that a child follows can be positive and reasonable, or just the opposite.
Some children have special problems that make it even more difficult for them to develop sufficient self-esteem. The child may have physical disabilities chronic diseases, learning disability or difficulty concentrating. Children may also suffer discrimination due to their nationality or religious faith. Environmental and social stressors such as poverty, neglectful parents, alcoholism, or unhealthy competition among children can undermine a child's self-esteem. But even in this case, such adolescents can develop positive self-esteem, except perhaps the need to achieve their goals and receive approval and positive assessment parents and other surrounding people play a much more important role than for a child who does not have such problems.

In addition, some children seem to be very cheerful and have a more positive outlook on the world around them than their peers. These are children who have had to face and go through difficult trials, cope with failures and complex tasks and who strive to earn a positive reaction (love, admiration, respect) from adults. Subsequently, they will readily explore new situations and show the ability to adapt to emerging changes much more easily. If the interaction between the temperaments of the child and his parents is sufficiently positive, and if parents set expectations for children that they are able to cope with, their self-esteem will only increase. Even when faced with challenges, such children cope with them, and their self-esteem does not decrease. Such children seem invulnerable.
You know your child better than anyone, and you should be able to recognize signs—in behavior and words—of problems associated with low self-esteem. However, in some cases you may be too close to your child or may have difficulty seeing the world through your child's eyes. In such cases, teachers, tutors, relatives and friends can provide help.

The main components of a child’s high self-esteem

Spend some time thinking about how your child copes with his successes and failures. Many children with low self-esteem may attribute their success in life to simple luck, fate, or other circumstances beyond their own control, thereby destroying their sense of self-confidence and reducing their chances of achieving success in the future. If such teenagers make a mistake or fail, they can also look for the reason for this somewhere outside, but not in themselves (for example, they can explain it as follows: “Today is just an unfavorable day” or “I just The teacher doesn't like me." As a result, it is more difficult for such children to create new and more successful strategies their actions or seek help or advice.
What can you say about a child with high self-esteem? These children are likely to view their achievements primarily as a result of their own achievements and abilities. The child has a developed sense of self-control, and when the child faces difficulties, he becomes motivated to achieve best results. The child accepts his mistakes, while realizing that he needs to change something and make great efforts. Such children do not blame others for their failures.

For healthy self-esteem, children need to develop some or better all of these qualities.

• Security. Your child should feel protected both now and in the future (“Who will I be in the future?”).
• Attachment. A teenager should feel that he is accepted and loved by the people around him - first of all, family members, as well as friends, classmates, guys from sports section, church officials and even neighbors and other community members. Without approval or identification with these groups, a child may feel rejected, alone, and left adrift without a “home,” “family,” or “community.”
• Determination. A child should have goals that give him a sense of purpose and direction for future activities, as well as the right path to direct his energy towards new achievements. If a child does not have a well-developed sense of purpose, he may experience boredom, a meaningless existence, and even resentment at being forced in a certain direction - by you or someone else.
• Competence and pride. Your child should feel confident in their ability to cope with life's challenges. This sense of personal strength develops after successful experience in situations where the child was able to independently cope with the difficulties that arose, while showing extraordinary creativity and obtaining certain results. In developing the qualities of competence and self-confidence in a child, it is critical to set appropriate expectations for him - not too high, but not too low. If you are overprotective of your child, if he is too dependent on you, or if you place expectations on your child that he cannot cope with, he may feel helpless and unable to control life's circumstances.
• Faith. Your child needs to feel a sense of faith in you and himself. To help your child gain this feeling, you need to keep promises, provide support, and help your child become a trustworthy person. This means that you must believe in your child and treat him as a person worthy of respect.
• Responsibility. Give your child the opportunity to show what he can do. Let him take on various tasks without constant supervision from you. This will serve as an expression of your trust: you thereby allow him to cope with the task on his own, demonstrating your faith in his abilities.
• Complicity. Your child will develop a sense of self-worth and commitment if you give him the opportunity to participate and contribute to an activity. Let your child know that their opinions and contributions are taken into account by others.
• Making real decisions and making choices. Your child will develop a sense of agency and control if he can make or influence decisions that seem important to him. Making such choices and making decisions should be consistent with his age and abilities, as well as family values.
• Self-discipline and self-control. As a child strives to achieve and gain greater independence, he needs to feel that he can achieve this on his own. If you give him perspective assessments, guidelines for action and opportunities to test himself in a given situation, the child will begin to think, reason, find solutions to problems and consider the consequences of actions that he may commit. This type of self-analysis is essential for a child's continued growth.
• Encouragement, support and reward. The child needs not only to achieve results, but also to receive a positive response and a sense of recognition - conveying to him that he is doing everything right, those around him are happy with him and he is achieving his goals. Support and praise your child not only for achieving a goal, but also for the effort made and even for subtle changes in better side(“I liked the way you calmly waited for your turn”, “Nice try! You never stop trying!”, “Well done!”). Express your reaction to your child as soon as possible to strengthen his self-esteem and help him associate your comments with what he has achieved success at.
• Admitting mistakes and failures. A child should not experience a feeling of Defeat if he makes mistakes or fails. Explain to him that such difficulties and failures are an integral part of his life and learning process, let him understand that by facing such difficulties he can learn something new or benefit in some way. Try to ensure that your support and positive reaction, as well as recognition of the child's efforts, overcome any feelings of failure, guilt or shame that the child may feel; he still needs to have motivation and hope. Also, try to express a reaction (“If you throw the ball like this, everything will work out”) that is not negative or expressive of your dissatisfaction (“You are so clumsy!”, “You will never succeed”).
• Self-esteem within the family. A child’s self-esteem is initially formed within the family, and therefore a huge impact influences the attitude and perception of the family itself. Some of the earlier comments in the process of forming a child’s self-esteem relate specifically to the family. In addition, remember: family pride is an integral part of self-esteem that can be maintained and preserved different ways, including taking part in or becoming involved in community activities, tracing family heritage and family trees, or caring for elderly family members. A family is close when its members focus on each member's strengths, avoid being overly critical of each other, and advocate for each other outside the family. Members of the same family believe in themselves and trust other members, respect each other's individuality and care for each other. They always find time to spend it with their family, be it holidays, special events or just spending time together.

As for your child, once he has had a certain experience, he will develop his own reaction to subsequent events, which will either enhance or destroy his self-esteem. For example, if a child does poorly in school, this can cause frustration and lack of self-confidence. And in order to prevent further failures and disappointments, the child may make less effort and not complete homework, which in turn will lead to a misunderstanding of the following topics in the subject and will entail greater difficulties with self-esteem. If this is left unaddressed, the situation can turn into a repeating cycle that will cause the child to feel, think and behave like a person who has not achieved anything in life, and further adhere to this established image of himself.
But this cycle can also operate in a positive way. If a child performs well on tasks and his success is recognized by others, his self-confidence increases and he becomes motivated to try harder and achieve greater success as he receives satisfaction and well-deserved rewards for his achievements. After this, the child’s success will only increase, instilling in him even greater confidence that he is able to control own life. As the child continues on his path, and his own desire to improve his results helps him in this, he will continue to try and achieve success, and his sense of self-confidence will only grow from this. Soon he will begin to feel, think and behave exactly as his self-esteem requires.
Remember: throughout childhood, your teen and the way he views himself will be shaped by your own hopes and expectations and reactions to his actions. If your child brings home a diary with only B's in it, and you praise him for his effort and diligence, he will likely feel satisfied with himself and the success he was able to achieve. However, if you express your disappointment with comments such as: “Why don’t you get A’s in math and spelling?”, your child’s self-esteem will suffer, even though the grades in the diary will not change. Your reaction and the words you speak have a certain power.

Signs of low self-esteem in a student

The signs below will help you identify if your child has low self-esteem. They may be an everyday response to how the child interacts with the world around him, or they may only occur in certain situations. If these signs become a recurring pattern of behavior, you should start taking the problem more seriously.

• Your child avoids completing a task or solving a problem without even trying to cope with it. Often this signals his fear of failure or his feeling of helplessness.
• Soon after starting a task or game, the child quits it, refusing to complete it when the first signs of possible failure appear.
• If a child feels that he can lose or show himself as a weak player, he begins to cheat or lie.
• The child shows signs of regression: he begins to behave like Small child or fool around. This behavior causes peers to want to tease and mock the child - thereby adding to the damage already caused a feeling of resentment and insult.
• The child begins to lead, give orders, or, on the contrary, shows stubbornness - all these are ways to hide the feeling of inadequacy, frustration and his own inability to cope with the assigned tasks.
• The child finds excuses for himself (“The teacher is stupid”) or downplays the importance of events (“I didn’t really like this game anyway”) - he uses these explanations to shift the blame either to other people or to external forces.
• Grades at school have become worse or the child has lost interest in his previous hobbies.
• The child avoids communicating with people, communicates less with friends or does not communicate at all.
• A child has frequent shifts mood: he shows despondency, disappointment, cries, has outbursts of rage, or, on the contrary, the child is excessively quiet.
• The child makes critical remarks such as: “I never do anything right,” “Nobody likes me,” “I’m unpleasant to others,” “It’s all my fault,” or “Everyone is smarter than me.”
• The child is unable to accept either criticism or praise.
• The child begins to worry too much about other people's opinions of him or becomes too vulnerable.
• The child gives in easily negative influence peers: he accepts and repeats their behavior and disdainful attitude towards school, skips classes, behaves impudently, begins to steal from stores or tries to smoke, drink alcohol, or take drugs.
• The child is either always ready to help with household chores, or, on the contrary, you won’t get any help from him.

If a child needs help

The most significant component of self-esteem comes from success in completing tasks, solving problems, and achieving goals. Children need close supervision and opportunities to meet the expectations of the adults around them. Since the period of average adolescence- this is a time of intense effort, the child’s abilities and self-confidence grow as they achieve success in solving problems and mastering new activities. The reward for achieving early success and confidence in your abilities is high self-esteem and increased self-esteem.
If you and/or your pediatrician or other professionals decide that your child needs help with his self-esteem, start by taking some steps on your part. You can be the most influential person in getting your child's self-esteem back on track.
First, make a brief overview of the various components of self-assessment described in this chapter that will help you identify and better understand your child's special needs, then you can develop some techniques and find the necessary solutions. If your teenager's problems are not too serious and you have a good relationship with him, you can stand up for him in various circumstances. Don't try to protect your child from difficult situations - instead, help him cope with them so that this time he will be more successful than before. Help your child cope with existing problems (for example, difficulties with reading or one or another science at school). Help your child determine what he would like to change or what abilities he would like to develop, then, together with him, set fairly high but realistic goals, draw up a schedule of what needs to be done to achieve them.
To achieve these goals, develop an action plan with your child. For example, if the goal is to improve reading skills, the child will need to commit to spending additional time reading books, starting with 15 minutes a day and gradually increasing this time. Teachers, family members and possibly a tutor should provide help and support to the teenager. But at the same time, do not try to manage everything yourself, introducing your own directives into this process - instead, try to give the child the opportunity to independently control and be responsible for the situation. This will help him feel confident in his abilities, strengthen his self-confidence and allow you to show your respect for him.
At the same time, try to find your child's other strengths and build on them. For example, make sure that your child has the opportunity to engage in an activity that he or she is good at. Highlight what gives the child a feeling of pride and satisfaction, cultivate his skills, help the child develop in this direction, allow him to evaluate his achievements. This practice will prove to the child better than any words that he is capable of achieving his goals.
In addition, try to expand the child's interests and abilities. If he becomes bored, his mood may turn into apathy and indifference, and he will have a tendency to complain about fate. And new knowledge, on the contrary, can only strengthen his motivation.

A child's self-esteem can be strengthened by receiving support and approval from other family members.

Over the next few weeks, evaluate your child's feelings about himself from time to time. If you continue to notice problems with his confidence or self-esteem, try repeating some of the interventions in his life discussed earlier if they seem appropriate, or change them slightly. If the child does not achieve any results, try to find alternative methods and at the same time constantly let the child know that you still believe in his ability to achieve desired results. If the hopes and goals you set for your child are too difficult for him, try changing them a little. When your child ultimately achieves a goal, be sure to praise him and, if the situation allows, reward him: this could be a monetary reward, a gift, or special privileges. Convince your child that you believe in him and do not doubt his ability to achieve his goals. As his efforts and achievements accumulate, the child will begin to feel stimulated and motivated for further achievements, and his sense of self-confidence will only grow.

• Spend time with your child. Find activities that you can do together that will help him succeed. It should be interesting for the child, and in such games there should be no winners and losers. Attend soccer matches and music concerts in which your child participates. Let your child know that you care about him and that you care about the results he achieves. By spending time with your child and giving him your energy, you are showing your love and approval.
• Treat your child as an individual. Encourage his self-expression, listen to him without criticizing, accept his feelings, treat him with respect.
• Whenever possible, allow your child to make decisions and take on responsibilities. Show that you believe in him.
• Create close ones family relations within the family and make the child feel that he is part of it and makes a contribution.
• Don't try to get your child on your side or involve him in adult conversations or family/marital conflicts that may cause him stress. Try to minimize the child's anxiety associated with critical moments or changes in his life, trying, if possible, to provide him with a state of constancy and stability.
• Encourage your child to help the people around him by becoming a Scout or participating in a similar program, which will undoubtedly increase his sense of community, involvement in the world around him, as well as his sense of self-worth and importance.
• Teach your child to praise himself. He should feel a sense of pride in his achievements.
• Tell your child how much you love him, how good and wonderful he is, without setting any conditions or making any connections. Although your actions as a parent indirectly convey your love to your child, they still need to hear words like “I love you.”

Increasing a child's self-esteem does not happen immediately: it is a long process that may take months and years. However, if the child does not respond to your attempts to help him, and serious problems, causing concern, still remain, talk to your pediatrician about getting necessary assistance specialists.
Regardless of your child's self-esteem, your goal is to help him feel positive about himself. Pay attention to the child’s feelings and sensations, notice and appreciate his efforts and achievements, give in to little things and provide support in difficult situations. Accept your child for who he is, help him experience only positive feelings towards himself and the personality that grows from him. Remember: the most important factor in the formation of a child’s self-esteem is the presence in his life of an adult who is able to show his respect and approval, who provides support to the child, thereby affirming: “I believe in you.”

The conceptual program of the gymnasium states that initial education should be aimed at increasing the level of socially significant motive for educational activities, bringing children to a higher level of education and spiritual and moral education, and developing the ability to live in harmony with themselves and the world around them. I see one of the ways to solve these problems in the formation in a pre-gymnasium child of the ability to analyze his activities, actions, and behavior. I believe that self-esteem is an important factor in the formation of personality. It allows a person to make active choices in a wide variety of life situations and determines the level of his aspirations and values.

If you open Ozhegov’s dictionary , then there we read: self-esteem is an assessment of oneself, one’s strengths and weaknesses. And evaluation is an opinion about the value, level or significance of someone - something.

In the dictionary of a practical psychologist (compiled by Golovin) it is written: “Self-esteem is a person’s assessment of himself, his capabilities, quality and place among other people.”

For an elementary school student, I believe that self-esteem is an assessment of oneself, one's capabilities, strengths and weaknesses. To do this you need to know yourself. Is what others think of us always the same? The issue of developing self-esteem, its formation in a child is the most important issue that determines the development of his personality.

Self-esteem is externally expressed in how a person evaluates the capabilities and results of his activities and the activities of others.

If a child has high self-esteem, then negative personality development occurs: arrogance, conceit, and rudeness develop. Adequate self-esteem leads to the development of positive personality traits: goodwill, mutual assistance, will, patience, etc.

Through self-esteem, a child goes through the following stages: the need for self-development, self-knowledge, and self-control.

Self-control must be practiced in order to enjoy trust in the team, to bring goodness to people, to respect oneself and to be respected. In Russian psychology, the issue of the influence of self-esteem on human cognitive activity has been developed, methods for forming adequate self-esteem have been identified, and in case of its deformation, methods for its transformation through educational influences have been identified. And it is precisely at primary school age that one of the main psychological new formations is reflection - the ability to observe and evaluate oneself. Such an analysis allows you to evaluate yourself, compare your achievements with others, record changes in yourself today in comparison with yourself yesterday, imagine yourself tomorrow.

What can an elementary school child evaluate on his own? He can evaluate his actions, actions, knowledge and ignorance. The technology of developmental education involves the development of self-esteem as one of the ways to form the personality of a primary school student.

The main goal in this matter was to develop a methodology for forming self-esteem in students. She studied the philosophical basis of self-esteem more deeply and explored this issue in the works of modern teachers and psychologists. I studied the article by Doctor of Psychology Zakharov and Candidate of Psychology Botsmonov, as well as Tubelsky’s book “School of Self-Determination”, Amonoshvili’s article “On the possibility of making assessment a means of developing and educating the individual.”

Today I can imagine the mechanism of self-esteem. It consists of the following:

1. In highlighting significant elements of learning content and means of involving the children themselves in assessing their learning.

2. In the use of various forms of content characteristics that reveal not only the degree of mastery of the program, but also give the child knowledge about his ignorance. When studying a topic, I lay down the main questions, which are subsequently assessed. (Application)

Using the methods of psychologist Zakharov, I determined the level of self-esteem of my children.

I level- self-esteem is realistic. (Children know their capabilities and can predict their activities - what will work, what won’t, failures are attributed to their shortcomings) these children are not characterized by categorical self-confidence. They use the expressions “I think...”, “Perhaps...”

Level II - less realistic self-esteem. Knowledge about yourself is the opinion of others. Less independent. They often make mistakes in the forecast. Failures are attributed to existing situations and circumstances.

Ill level- self-esteem is inadequate, they want to value themselves higher, justifying “that’s how they want it.” They attribute their failures to existing circumstances (a friend got in the way, forgot a textbook, etc.)

The results of self-assessment for the class are as follows: level 1 - 19 people, level 2 - 5, level 3 - 3.

What are the criteria for expected results?

My task:

1. By the end of 3rd grade, bring students’ self-esteem to an adequate level in assessing their actions and knowledge.

2. Teach to determine the boundaries of knowledge and non-knowledge, outline a plan for closing gaps (i.e., carry out corrective work).

I also involve my parents in building self-esteem in students.

I believe that my problem is relevant because... self-esteem will help shape the student as an individual capable of continuing education in high school, it forms ethical norms and moral values ​​that correspond to the ethics of behavior in society. I want to end the article with the words: “Effort leads to success. And success leads to increased self-esteem.”

Application

Checking spelling of weak positions

1.Check the spelling of weak positions; explain the verification method.

2. Match the words and letters that should be in the blank

Explain orally the choice of spelling.

Self-assessment sheet

1. I know what spelling is strong And weak vowel and consonant positions
2. I can copy words and sentences with weak spelling omitted using an algorithm.
3. I know the law of Russian writing
4. I can check the spelling of a weak position using a spelling dictionary, I know the secrets of the dictionary.
5. I learned to check the spelling of a weak position against a strong one, changing the word by number.

2b. - I am confident in my knowledge of the material, I can check the spelling of weak positions;

1b. - I’m not entirely confident in my knowledge, I’m learning to check the spelling of weak positions;

0b. – while I have little understanding of the topic, I check the spelling of weak positions only with the help of adults.