Little Voices – 7 tips for building confidence in your child

At Little Voices, your child is at the heart of everything we do. Nurture your child’s confidence & help them reach their potential with our multi-award winning singing & drama lessons.

What is confidence?

When we talk about your child’s confidence, we’re talking about their feeling or belief that they can do well at something.

We’re not talking about them having the confidence to thrust themselves into the spotlight and take centre stage.

What we are talking about is the confidence to speak to other children and adults.

The confidence to make new friends on holiday.

The confidence to overcome their nerves about taking on a small role in the school nativity.

The confidence to join new clubs, or try something they’ve not done before.

The confidence to put their hand up in class and speak out.

And, as they get older, the confidence when they join secondary school to just ‘go for it’; to handle themselves well in job interviews, or interviews for college and university.

Let’s face it, haven’t we all looked back at our younger selves and wished we’d had the confidence to do something, rather than let the opportunity pass us by?

Even children who seem naturally confident can sometimes need a little extra help

Our children have such a hard time growing up these days, don’t they?

There’s so much for them to handle from an early age – then once they reach school age, it’s a whole new ball game. Not least because things like social media and fluctuating friendship groups come into play.

Throw the events of the past couple of years into the mix, when we’ve been in and out of lockdown and navigating our way through various restrictions, and we’re now facing a perfect storm for our children’s mental and emotional wellbeing.

While some children seem to be confident from the moment they come into the world, for others, it doesn’t come quite as naturally.

Equally, we all know children (and adults, too) who once oozed confidence, but who are now struggling after having their daily lives and routines turned upside down by the coronavirus pandemic.

So how can you help build – or rebuild – your child’s confidence?

It’s often said that a confident child is a happy one, and here at Little Voices, we couldn’t agree more. It’s the reason we do what we do. Because building confidence in children and young people, and nurturing their talent, is what will set them up with skills they can use throughout their life.

So here are our 7 tips to help you build your child’s confidence:

1. Give praise where praise is due. It’s important to be honest and sincere with your praise, but don’t fall into the trap of over-praising as your words will soon just become white noise.
2. Offer frequent encouragement, while also acknowledging any frustrations your child might be feeling.
3. Look for ways your child can be in a variety of situations where they have to speak to lots of different people of all ages. The more they do it, the less it will faze them until eventually, it will just become second nature.
4. Let them make their own decisions – you can guide them if necessary, but tempting as it might be, don’t make every little decision for them or they’ll never learn to trust their own judgement.
5. Nurture their hobbies, even if they’re not quite your cup of tea! Give them the space to explore what interests them, make the time to get involved, and don’t try and push them into one of your own hobbies if they’re not interested just yet.
6. Look for ways your child can help other people. Helping others provides a natural sense of accomplishment, and that in turn makes us all feel better about ourselves.
7. And, of course, think about signing them up to our Little Voices singing and drama lessons, where our hand-picked tutors will inspire and encourage your child to thrive in a supportive and happy environment.

Little Voices is for everyone, not just the talented few

At Little Voices, we see the potential in everyone – not just the talented few.

We’ve specially-designed our award-winning drama and singing classes to boost confidence levels, build vital life skills, and nurture talent. All of which helps those children who are shy, who’ve lost their confidence, or need a bit of a motivational boost, just as much as those who dream of being a star one day.

We gently nurture them to push beyond the boundaries of their own comfort zone, so they’ll have the confidence to be whatever they want to be.

In fact, one of our pupils went from “No thank you, I don’t want to be Joseph, there’ll be too many people watching me”, to “Don’t worry mum, I’ve got this!” in just 3 short months.

And his mum told us: “ . . . he has blossomed and become more confident in himself. He shines now both inside and out, like all of you. We can’t thank you enough for being his guiding light.”

So in a nutshell, confidence is important for your child’s general happiness, and helps them develop into a well-rounded individual.

They don’t need to want to be the next big star, but having more confidence will certainly help them conquer lots of things that little people need to conquer in our ever-changing world!

We’d love for your child to take part in a free trial class – just contact your local Little Voices office to find out more.