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Child Development & Early Education vocabulary · Social and Emotional Development

Self-esteem

Meaning in child development & early education, with examples

/ˌself ɪˈstiːm/nounCore term

In child development & early education, self-esteem means: How much a person values and likes themselves; in young children it grows from feeling loved, accepted and capable.

In Turkish: öz saygı, benlik saygısı, özgüven

How it is used

Used in reports, parent talks and research. People talk about high or low self-esteem and about building or boosting it. It is close to self-confidence, which is more about believing you can do things.

Example sentences

  1. Being given real jobs, like setting the table, can build children's self-esteem.

  2. We noticed her self-esteem growing as she made friends.

Common collocations

  • build self-esteem
  • low self-esteem
  • high self-esteem
  • self-confidence
  • well-beingThe state of feeling happy, healthy, safe and comfortable, both physically and emotionally.
  • praiseWords or signs of approval given to a child for what they did or how hard they tried; early years practice often prefers specific praise to general comments like 'good girl'.
  • social and emotional developmentA child's growing ability to understand and manage feelings, build relationships, get along with others and develop a sense of self.
  • empathyThe ability to understand and share how another person feels, for example noticing that a friend is sad and offering comfort.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Social and Emotional Development

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