How to deal with self doubt in primary? Advice please!

[LilyTWilderness]

My DD is in Y2. She is doing well at school academically . But I find she is not very confident and needs constant encouragement. She compare her work to other children's' art work and bench marks herself in relation to other kids abilities.

Is this common in this age? How do I deal with this?

She mentioned for instance she has slipped in her english work when actually other children have improved and moved up a level.!
TIA

She sounds like a high achiever, who sets herself high targets. It's not unusual, that's just her personality.

If she enjoys reading and feels that she's slipped behind, do find her some more books to read. Has she tried the Flower Fairies and similar books? Michael Morpurgo is great for descriptive writing, although some of the topics can be a bit morbid (wars, sinking of the titanic etc). If she's into history, the Roman Mysteries are good - not everyone takes to them though.

My daughter used to write a book with her cousin. They would email each other with a chapter, then the other one would write the following chapter and the book evolved in a different direction which they enjoyed,

My daugher also wrote a family newsletter for a little while, sending photos etc to her grandparents, which improved her writing and computing skills.

There are lots of online art projects on youtube, which are age appropriate, if she enjoys them.

She will gain confidence in time and will also work out which are her favourite subjects. That's so much nicer than being bossy and pushy.

@WhatsForDinner100 Thank you for your insights, it's very reassuring. She loves reading and It's mostly comics these days, I'm intentionally reading to her in bed hoping something will catch her interest. Thank you for book recommendations and writing ideas.

I have set up an art station near her study desk. She is happy to explore but is discouraged when she runs out of ideas or something gets "messy". I'll check out the videos.

If you google reading lists for KS1 or pre-prep, if you want to see what some of the private schools suggest, there are plenty of ideas online.

Winnie The Witch was another good series for young readers. The Roman Mysteries, which I mentioned above, is more for KS2 readers. Some of the Enid Blyton books are good - The Magic Faraway Tree, The Five Findouters... We spent a lot of time at our local library!

Would she be interested in learning a musical instrument? Not necessary formal lessons, but just playing and experimenting with little tunes.