Introduction

Bragging about our child’s achievements is something we all do very often. But can you imagine this bragging can boost your child’s self esteem in a negative way and inflate their ego.

There is a fine line between self esteem and ego. On one hand, when parents talk positively about the efforts and hard-work their child did while doing a task, The child becomes motivated to put forth the same efforts on the goals they want to achieve.This gives them a sense of accomplishment. On the other hand, when parents brag about the performance of their child and doing better than other kids can boost their child’s ego and loss of humility.

In this blog, we will discuss

How bragging can negatively affect our child’s personality.

1-Need of constant praise:

Once a child''s self-esteem and ego are tied into how much they brag about their achievement, a vicious cycle begins. In order to feel good when they excel at something, they need constant praise.This makes the child arrogant.

To combat this situation, Parents need to curb bragging about performance-driven achievements and focus on praising the efforts of their child and exhibit the ability to be humble. Make your child understand that setbacks are a part of life.

2-Believe all their actions is right:

A child with a negatively inflated ego believes that every action he does is right. As such, even when the child realizes the action is wrong, he will find ways to justify his actions. Moreover if the mistakes are pointed out , the child will feel offended. The child is bragged to a point where he feels that he can never do wrong or can make any mistakes.This trait influences the personality of the child negatively.

3-Can not handle Criticism:

No one likes being criticized but kids with inflated egos take criticism personally and feel very offended. They get defensive when someone highlights their flaws because they have not learned that it is okay not to do everything perfect. The constant need of validation from others makes the kid with inflated egos take criticism in a destructive way. So instead of improving , they lash out on others and complain that things are not fair with them. 

How can parents deal with the situation?

1. A child with healthy confidence and self-esteem makes himself feel good, whereas a boastful child relies on the feedback of other people to give a boost to his inflated ego.It is important for parents to instill resilience skills in their children. Improve your child’s ability to bounce back from setbacks and failures.
2.  It is the job of the parents to make sure that praising your kid is done with the intention to help them build their self-esteem on the basis of the validation they receive from themselves and not from others. You need to emphasize on hard work and efforts rather than achievements.This helps kids to improve their resilience skills.
3. It is obvious that sometimes your child feels enthusiastic to share the good news or praise his own hard work, and the ability to speak highly of himself will be beneficial in the future (say, during job interviews). However, you can teach him to be modest. Teach your child to give himself a mental pat on the back for a job they did well.It can boost the feeling of self-efficacy, prepare them for future success.
4. Ensure that your child understands the importance of humility.

It might be the situation that his peers are probably engaged in similar self-promotion and boasting, so your kid also feels the urge to inflate his ego by bragging about the achievements. Some kids have a hard time seeing the difference between expressing genuine excitement and boasting and bragging. As a child, it''s hard not to get caught in the blustering wave of praise-mania. To combat this situation, you need to avoid the parent-praise trap and instill a sense of modesty and self-control. 

TAKEAWAY:

Explain to your kid what is bragging? Explain how he emotionally hurts people by feeling and expressing that the things he does or owns are better than others and makes people feel bad because they don’t have it or can’t do it. As a parent , it is your responsibility to teach your kid not to amplify the achievements. Teach your child nice ways to show the accomplishments and note that bragging is not at all acceptable.

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