Self-esteem is ever-fluctuating throughout our lives, and though it's always important, it's not always so easy to find. On a recent episode of the mbg podcast, clinical psychologist and board-certified nutritionist Nicole Beurkens, Ph.D., CNS weighed in on how to help build kids' self-esteem—and her advice applies to adults, too. Here's what she had to say.
Why do we all need to call out the positives as much as the negatives.
How often do we get stuck in negative feedback loops that reinforce limiting beliefs about ourselves? This inner monologue of criticism can begin as early as childhood, which is why Beurkens stresses the importance of giving kids praise.
"No parent or teacher or anybody else intends to be overly negative with a kid, but it does tend to be the case that the feedback that we give them is around correcting them, right? [We tell them] the things we wish they weren't doing, or that they need to do differently, or that they need to do better," she says.