Dress your child for success... 5 steps to building confidence
through appearance.
by Teresa ,The CuteKid™ Staff
Helping your child feel confident about their appearance builds their self-esteem and gives them courage to enter new situations. Here are 5 steps you can take to help dress your child for success.
1. Hair – Start with your child's head. Making sure that your child has well-groomed hair will give them the confidence they need to keep their head up.
If your child is a boy make sure that his hair is cut often. Having short hair makes it easier to maintain and style. Comb your son's hair before going out. Apply gel and then style. Choose a style that works with your son's hair and is easy to do.
I always feel sorry for the little girls that I see with matted hair that is just hanging around their face. Take time to do your daughter's hair every day. If you aren't confident with your hair-styling abilities ask a friend or relative to show you how. Doing a little girl's hair can be difficult so keep the style simple and use no more than two elastic's or barrettes. While doing your child's hair you can distract them by letting them look in a small handheld mirror or play with a toy reserved for hair styling time.
Make sure that you regularly wash your child's hair. A few times a week is fine. Use a comb when your child's hair is wet prevents damage. When it is dry a brush is often better at working through any tangles, if your child's hair is too tangled spray on a leave-in conditioner before combing.
2. Face – The face is the gateway to your child's soul. You want your child to feel confident about showing their face and smile. When your child is young wash their face often and keep their nose clean. As your child grows teach them to wash their own face. If your child has bad acne try and figure out a way to get them medication to clear up the problem. Acne destroys confidence so quickly, especially for girls.
3. Smile – Growing up my sister would never show her teeth when she smiled, because she hated her teeth. Crooked, discolored, or peg teeth may not seem like a big deal to you as a parent but for your child it could be a constant source of embarrassment. You want your child to feel confident enough to smile and making sure that they have nice teeth is key.
4. Clothes – The child who dresses completely out of style, dirty and ragged, or a few sizes to big or small will not feel confident in what they are wearing. Your child's clothes don't have to be the latest style but they do need to be clean, hole and stain free, and fit correctly.
If you don't have much money to spend on clothing try chain stores like Walmart, Shopko, and Target. They carry the same styles as department stores for a lot less money. You can also try shopping thrift stores.
If your child wears hand-me-down clothes from siblings or relatives try buying one or two items that are the latest styles to fit into your child's wardrobe.
If your child gets a stain in their clothing get it out. I like using stain stick. I apply it on the stain at night then wash it the next day. Check to make sure the stain is gone before drying the item. If it is not reapply the stain stick and wash it again. The best thing for getting out grass and dirt stains is a Fels naptha bar.
5. Shoes – What your child wears on their feet does make a difference. Your child doesn't need a million pairs of shoes to look good. But you do need to make sure that your child's shoes are comfortable, the right size, and in good shape. If your child shoes are badly scuffed or have holes they will not feel as comfortable wearing them in public. If your child is going to wear more dressy clothes buy them dressier shoes. I love Payless because they often have buy one get one half off sales.
Let your child get the shoes that they want. Last year both of my girls got Dora the Explorer shoes, not my first choice, but they loved showing people how they lit up when they walked. If your child wants a pair of shoes that are really expensive pay them for chores and let them earn part of the money for their shoes.
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