Children's self-expression: choose your own image

We propose you now, within our Maternity and Paternity Course, some ideas and give you some tips to promote self-expression of children focusing on this issue in the possibility of let the children choose their own image.

All people have the need and the right to express themselves. Children, of course also, and it is also that for them it is a very important learning and a way to strengthen their self-esteem.

Let him choose his image

Within the limits of logic children should be able to choose and decide on your own image. Allowing them to decide what clothes they are going to wear helps them express their individuality and also take responsibility for their body and care.

As usual, adults should supervise their choices and explain the social norms or climatic imperatives that make them appropriate or not, but, within those limits and perhaps, offering various possibilities to their liking, there is no problem in that they are they who decide on clothes, shoes or accessories will wear that day.

Safer and more responsible children

This simple gesture will make them feel safer and happy and will not feel so intensely the need to rebel in adolescence, because they will have grown with the peace of mind that They can decide on their own image.

This also makes them more responsible for your clothes and that they want to take care of it if they like it, helping them to assume logical norms such as keeping things or taking the clothes that need to be washed to the bucket.

Shopping

We must also listen to them and let them decide when we go shopping. As much as we like a floral dress and we believe that our girl will be beautiful, if she prefers jeans and a t-shirt there is no need to forbid it, always, as I said, with a certain coherence. If you need a jacket we will look for a jacket, it is not a matter of buying by buying, but of not imposing our tastes on another person. Our children are not objects, or dolls, or belong to us to express ourselves through them.

Nothing really happens if a child wants to combine colors in a way that we don't like, or is inclined to a strident print or phosphor shoes. What matters is that they choose clothes that are comfortable, suitable for them and of good quality, aesthetics is something that has no fixed rules.

Creativity to power

Another thing that children love is to dress up. I assure you that if they go out with a pink tutu on their pants or a layer of their favorite superhero when they are four years old, the world will not end. If they feel happy, go ahead.

Childhood should be a stage of creativity and freedom First of all, and we should give them every opportunity to express themselves also through their own image.

The advantages of choosing your clothes

Without a doubt, we allow children to choose their clothes and decide on their appearance. advantages for its development: they feel more respected and valued, gaining confidence in themselves and increasing the one they feel towards us.

In addition, their personality is strengthened, they become more autonomous in the right sense and it helps them to be decided without fear of being denied such important small decisions to get to know how to decide responsibly on what matters.

The pleasure of having chosen his clothes will make, even, feeling "older" want to learn to change in a self-motivated way, something that, in my opinion is desirable and that you never have to force.

Disadvantages of choosing your clothes

We can also meet with inconvenience if we allow them to choose their clothes, such as spending too much time deciding, changing your mind or trying to get dressed in an inconvenient way.

However, with a little left hand and a lot of mutual trust, these inconveniences are very small and can be easily solved. If the child is undecided, we can offer several suitable possibilities by encouraging him to choose his favorite among them.

If you want to put something too old or inappropriate to the situation or the weather, it will be our job to make you understand with explanations what is the framework on which you should focus your choices and the reasons for asking. Children are very reasonable when we give them the opportunity to learn to be.

But, in general, the advantages far outweigh the possible inconveniences and my opinion is that give children the chance to choose their clothes It is a clear bet that favors, in addition to his self-expression, his self-esteem, his capacity for judgment and his responsibility. After all, our children do not belong to us.