Share your tips for boosting confidence in small children for a chance to win a SIGNED copy of THE LION INSIDE plus a £100 JOHN LEWIS VOUCHER!

Taking time and giving lots of praise however small the achievement is. Giving them the chance to share their achievement with relations (grandparents are especially good at this) by visiting or telephoning.

Safe Choices - I think offering safe choices is a good way of boosting a childs confidence. When faced with an either or situation give them safe choices thereby they will be successful and take ownership of the decision

Lots of praise :-)
Even praising the little things that they do can make a huge difference to confidence.
I make sure that my children are all treat to their own personalities and abilities and never compare them with each other.

Always encourage them, give them constructive praise and try to do things alongside them to help them develop confidence too. I always try to ensure I give them undivided attention so that they feel they are important

Words are wonderful for children to hear but I think the your facial expressions and eyes tell a story on there own. It shows such pride and happiness and really gives a child such support and encouragement.

Giving kids small responsibilities always seems to help with confidence. Being asked to mind their younger sibling for a moment, or to make sandwiches for the family for lunch. Then lots of appreciation for a job well done!

Don't shut them away with no other children around them, get them to social groups to engage with other children

Ah, we love Rachel Bright and Jim Field in our house, and Oi Frog! was a very entertaining read. We'll be checking out The Lion Inside for sure as both my DDs are 'small' girls so have had to work harder to make themselves heard! I've always tried to instill in them that 'small is beautiful'. I was called 'titch' at school so know first hand what it feels like to be the smallest in class! One of our favourite stories is also the Gruffalo, and we ALL know how courageous the mouse was in that story!

DD is generally quite a confident child, but struggled when she started swimming lessons. I knew once she stopped shouting and went for it she would love it, but getting to that point was the challenge... In the end persistence, lots of praise and encouragement, her realising that complaining wouldn't get her out of the water and bribery with chocolate buttons got us there! (and I was right, she loves her swimming lessons)

Lots and lots and lots of praise!

i always say you can be anything you want as long as you work hard and sometimes it takes different people longer to learn different things and to just try their best and that is all people can ask of them
Always tell them you love them and give them lots of hugs and praise

I think the way to build confidence is obviously with positivity and praise but also to help your child to solve problems and think for themselves.

My son is very shy and does not like to try new things and meet new people. I just try to praise him and encourage him when he does something he is worried about. He is getting better and hopefully will be more confident before he starts school in September.

Lots of praise, but beware of over-doing it or it becomes meaningless.
A bit of responsibility can be useful for an older child so they know they're trusted

Lots of love, praise and encouragement !!!

Trying lots of different things so that your child can find what they're good at, doing things that are fun to do and not just based on the end result, letting them have a go for themselves especially if they feel something is 'grown up', not making a big deal of mistakes and a lot of praise along the way. You can always find the positive things to point out!

positive reinforcement. plenty of encouragement showing they can do anything if they put their mind to it and try. praise success. praise unsuccessful attempts as 1 step closer to achieving.

Display their artwork and models. Praise their efforts. Use specific rather than vague praise. Try to remain positive when things go wrong. My 4 year old son is a perfectionist and will often throw things in the bin if he is not happy with the way they turn out (even when they're really good). I try to emphasise the positive things about what he is made but sometimes that upsets him more so now I let him have the choice over whether or not to throw a creation away.

Always praise rather than find fault and I always tell my children/grandchildren that I love them.

Loads of great ideas on here (I'll be stealing some of them!)

With my son I try to make praise very specific and I've found it's really helped him not only realise exactly the things I want to see in him. It's made him more confident that although he has to try hard to accomplish things he CAN do them if he keeps trying, that he already has tons of strengths and that he is loved, valued and cherished just the way he is.

I try very hard not to say "that's great" or "good work" and go for "you waited patiently for your friend to stop speaking before asking me for something; that was considerate" or "you had to really concentrate and keep trying to get that one right, that showed a lot of determination and perseverance".

Definitely praise and positivity but not too exaggerated. My little one cried at every nursery drop off for a year. I think I used to go a bit over the top with the 'it's going to be very fun at nursery' massive fake smile. The day he stopped crying was the day I forgot his shoes and so got distracted talking/grovelling to his teacher. Took the pressure off I suspect!

Listening to your child and encouraging them to follow their goals no matter how big or small. You should praise them, be positive and help give them the courage they need.

we use lots of praise and give lots of encouragement, Tj gets very frustrated and we find talking quietl and being calm does help and 99 time out of a hundred he too calms down and whatever it is he struggles with we help, again lots of encouragement goes a long way

Tips would include letting them be themselves - nothing as creative as a child. Also encouraging them rather than criticising

This is a really important thing for me - I was painfully shy growing up & I want to give my LO the best chance at growing to be a confident, sociable adult. I try to give him lots of one-to-one quality time, lots of eye contact when we talk - praising him when he succeeds when trying new tasks, & praising his efforts when he doesn't succeed first time. I love seeing his little look of pride, it's so cute! As much as I pull him up when his beahviour isn't great, I really try to focus on times when he does behave really well, says please & thank you & make a big things of pointing this out & celebrating this with him :)