Why is self-esteem important?
Self-esteem is the confidence in one’s own worth and abilities. It’s about having self-respect and faith in one’s self and how we feel about ourselves and our behaviour clearly reflects those feelings. Understanding and accepting oneself helps in understanding and accepting others and the way children and adults feel about themselves affects the way they act. However, these feelings can change with time.

Children’s ideas about themselves come from others around them, particularly from parents and their primary caregivers. The children’s self-esteem is mostly impacted by the way people, who are important to them, treat them. A child who is happy with an achievement but does not feel loved may eventually experience low self-esteem. Likewise, a child who feels loved but is hesitant about his or her own abilities can also end up with low self-esteem.

Self-esteem fluctuates as a child grows. It is frequently changed and fine-tuned, because it is affected by a child's experiences and new perceptions.

Take the example of a child who is confident, has the ability to cope with his or her classmates, is in a familiar environment, has the support of her teacher and classmates, gets good grades in school work and is also able to help other children. Then this child is sent to a new school and he or she is not familiar with the new teacher and classmates, new environment, ways of teaching, is not supported by the adults in the environment, feels dejected and is embarrassed at times for not meeting others’ standards. The child is taken to be a slow learner, difficult and uncooperative. This not only impacts the child’s academic performance but also turns him/her away from going to school and affects the interactions at home. The experiences a child goes through play a vital role in determining whether he or she develops a high or low self-esteem. People who are important to children have a great affect on the development of the child’s self-esteem.

Characteristics of Children with High and Low Self-Esteem
Children with healthy self-esteem tend to enjoy interacting with others. They are comfortable in social settings and enjoy group activities as well as independent pursuits.