‘GOOD ME’ AND ‘BAD ME’

The opinion, the child develops about himself in response to the encouraging or adverse comments or reactions of his parents, begins taking shape as early as the second year. Self-image is not something that was present in the child at the time of birth. It is acquired during the child’s interactions with parents and other members of the family. When you give your child plenty of messages which convey that you love him and he is a good child, he starts believing he is good. The child associates all your positive messages with his immediate behavior and assumes that he must behave in that manner to make you happy and to feel good about himself. Similarly, when he feels that you do not approve his certain behaviors, he learns that it was bad of him to act in that way. With repeated reinforcement of positive and negative messages for the right and wrong behaviors, the child develops an image or concept about himself. Remember, there should be consistency in parental treatment.