Thought for the Day: I decided to share an older trivia post today. When I reread it, I realized that I also have a great positive update on the family I told you about in 2013. In a recent session, the progress is striking to note. Whereas in the past mornings were a nightmare with tears and constant prodding from the parents to get their child out the door every morning, the child is getting up, dressed and ready on their own with no arguments or battles. I will share some of my thoughts on how therapy has helped and why things have changed next Monday in my Magical Therapy Moments post.
Here's a throwback Thursday Psychology Trivia post on Self Confidence.
Thought for the Day: On my last Motivational Mondays post, I told a story that I had shared with current clients about a week ago. My current clients were feeling very discouraged & helpless at times when parenting their special needs child. I told them how I helped a mother who felt just like them with her daughter years ago while working in a day unit of a psychiatric hospital with children & their families in Israel. I have a wonderful update about that story's impact on my current client's family. At the end of this week's session, the father asked to meet with me individually. He told me that he has been losing his temper with his daughter & with his wife. He knows it is inappropriate & making things worse at home. He wants to learn how to control his behavior. Hopefully, my post on Monday will help other people find the courage to ask for help with their own issues, as well.
Today is Thursday & it's time for the answer to Tuesday's Psychological Trivia Question:.
True or false: Slouching for a few minutes cannot change your self-confidence.
The answer is False. Believe it or not mothers may have known intuitively that sitting up straight improves self confidence.
In an article in Time.com's Health & Family section, "Sit up straight, it can boost your confidence," reports the results of a recent study by psychologists at Ohio State and the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Seventy-one undergrads at Ohio State were told they were participating in two studies at the same time. They were told one study was trying to find out how well people could hold a certain posture while completing other tasks. The second study was helping to analyze how certain traits impact eligibility for success in business. They were then asked to write down their qualifications for a potential job opportunity.
One group was instructed to sit up straight, the other was asked to slouch while writing. Those who sat up straight were far more likely to believe in their own merits, compared with those who slouched at their desks. In addition, even after they had completed the writing assignment & were no longer slouching, "those students who had been instructed to hunch over while writing about their potential to succeed... were almost universally less confident in their answers when compared with the group that had been sitting upright during the study."
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If a few minutes of writing in a slouched position can impact on self confidence of college students, imagine how slouching on a regular basis impacts on the self esteem of a child whose self confidence is still developing. If you want to help your children (or yourself) build self confidence, standing tall & sitting up straight will help them feel more confident & have less self doubt. It may help them be less likely to become targets for bullies as well. It is well worth providing incentives to train kids to improve their posture. You may want to bring out a heavy book & start practicing balancing it on their heads, it's hard to slouch & balance a book at the same time. (Teachers take note: if you see kids slouching, perhaps you can reward them for sitting up straight with stickers or other small rewards to help improve their self confidence.) Sometimes simple interventions will be enough, however, slouching could also be a sign that a child is unhappy about something in their lives. Whether you are a teacher or a parent, it is worth finding out whether there is something bothering them & getting them help.
Come back tomorrow for Friday's Fabulous Finds & over the weekend for Saturday's Songs for the Soul & Sunday's Comic Strips.
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