Does your child have limiting beliefs?

Many times parents ask me about what they can do to change their child’s behaviour. For example, I received an email from a distraught mother asking for help.  “My son doesn’t have any friends, he gets picked on at school and he never stands up for himself. What can I do to help him?” Unfortunately this is a common story for many school children.

An important step in making lasting positive changes to behaviours is to first uncover and challenge any limiting beliefs your child may have. You know that your beliefs drive your behaviours right? For example if you believe you can’t do something you are unlikely to try it, on the other hand if you believe you are capable of trying something new you are more likely to give it a go. It’s the same with your child.

If your child doesn’t have any friends, begin by uncovering his beliefs about friends and friendships. Beliefs like: “It’s hard to make friends”, “Nobody wants to be my friend”, “I’ll never have friends” will not be supportive for coming up with ideas about how to make friends and then trying them out.  Changing beliefs isn’t easy, the key is to know that they are only beliefs and if your child is willing, they can change their beliefs. Think about it, how many times have your beliefs changed over your life?

Helping a child to uncover and change limiting beliefs will help them be differently in the world.