How Attending a Child Care Centre Can Develop Self-Confidence

Attending a child care centre can have many benefits for young children. However, it's natural for parents to worry about whether they're making the right decision and question what their child will get from the experience. In addition to socialising with kids their age and having some exposure to the early year's literacy curriculum, attending a child care centre can help develop your child's self-confidence.

Strong self-confidence will be of value to your child when they move on to school and have to learn how to assert themselves at school. It's also valuable for those taking part in sporting or other social activities, as self-confidence can help a young child regulate their emotional response to realising they can't always win or excel at activities they take part in. Confidence can even help them keep trying even when they want to quit a task. Here are three ways the child care centre environment can help kids develop self-confidence:   

Child-Led Approach

Child care centres take a child-led approach to caring for kids, and this allows kids a lot of autonomy over how they spend their time. Feeling trusted, heard and respected helps develop a sense of personal identity and self-confidence. Children often have very little control in their own lives due to the nature of modern family life and the busyness of day-to-day routines, but during their time at a child care centre, they will have lots of opportunities to engage in activities that interest them, select meals from a menu of several choices and have their likes and dislikes taken into consideration in the natural flow of the day.  

Involvement In Decision-Making

In the child care centre environment, kids are encouraged to take the lead in small projects and make decisions relating to practical activities. Before going on outings, they are involved in discussions about risk and safety and asked to come up with ideas, solutions and safe practices. Feeling that their opinion counts and experiencing how their decision-making turns out can boost your child's confidence, as they begin to realise they have a valuable place in the world and their contribution to their world matters.  

Mentoring Others

Children are encouraged to be supportive, kind and helpful to their peers, and older children are often asked to be a buddy for younger children who are just starting and settling into the child care centre. This trust and responsibility placed on the kids to be mentors to others can act as positive reinforcement that they add value to other people's lives and their environment. Children in a mentoring position are often keen to report back on how their actions and acts of kindness have helped a younger child or enabled them to develop a friendship.

These are just a few examples of how attending a child care centre can help your child develop self-confidence. When selecting a centre for your child, discuss their approach to caring for and nurturing each child as an individual and select a centre that you feel would be a supportive environment for your child.