onr “I feel important.” That was my younger daughter’s surprising answer to a mundane question. I had been wondering why she liked her job as a hostess at a busy restaurant so much, especially since it was her first “real” job as a teenager beyond watching kids or walking dogs. Frankly, I had expected the job would not appeal to her. I was wrong. But shortly after she announced this surge of self-esteem, I remembered my own first real job as a teenager beyond mowing lawns or shoveling snow. My employment history began one summer at a grocery store in my hometown where I bagged … [Read more...]
How to Foster a Child’s Self-Confidence
Much of parenting is an illusion, one that starts with the children’s belief in parents’ omnipotence. + + + When I was in elementary school, my dad was the world’s greatest mechanic. He could fix a flat tire on my bicycle with ease. His strong fingers and hairy forearms would silently maneuver this way and that, projecting an air of competence and security that enveloped me. When I was in middle school, my dad pulled open the “way back” door of our rusty, wood-paneled station wagon and it fell right off our car in the middle of a crowded parking lot. I burned with embarrassment as my … [Read more...]