Abstract:

My paper wishes to present ways of cultivating children’s self esteem and encourage them to think creatively. There are a number of initiatives which can be taken in the school environment from the social, pedagogical or the architectural point of view which can foster the harmonious relationship of the child to itself as well as to the others. All children ought to understand their uniqueness, by discovering and knowing themselves better and by feeling important and unique. When a child approaches the world with love, honesty and decency then they do not easily become a victim or a perpetrator. When children have self esteem they request less from others and develop genuine love and trust for them. Getting to know themselves means for children an end to isolation and alienation and the fostering of healthy and strong relationships to other children.

The above reasons made me think that it is important to consider a positive, deliberate and more hopeful alternative to punishment in case children resort to delinquency: teaching the children to esteem and appreciate themselves. When children discover their bodies and all that they can do with them, their mind, ideas and thoughts, their eyes and the images they encounter and all the rest of their senses, their feeling and how these determine their behavior, their relation to themselves and to the others and how this may be improved, the context within which they live and the important ethical and aesthetic determinations drawn from it, the key points for their correct nutrition so that they are in good health, the beauty and power of their soul, then children learn to esteem and appreciate themselves, according to Virginia Satir. In accordance with Satir’s book Shaping People, I formulated an action with eight hiding places that the students discover in their school environment and beyond, in order to build their self esteem and self confidence.

Keywords:

Self-esteem, hiding places, body, thoughts, nutrition, senses, relations, frame, soul, space, child.