Every Child a Winner: 12 Spiritual Tools to Develop Self-esteem in Young Children

By Iris Pearce

Self-esteem separates the winners from the losers. For Christians, such self-esteem comes from the knowledge that God created us for Himself out of sheer love. We are God’s beloved children, one community of faith through Christ Jesus. God loves each of us unconditionally from the day we are born and calls us to be part of His family. This Christian truth provides the primary foundation on which to build self-esteem in young children and forms the basis of the spiritual tools described in this book.

Children who believe that they are loved unconditionally feel worthy of the good things in life, such as happiness and success. A child who feels he is capable of handling successfully whatever difficulties arise in this life will have the necessary confidence to overcome his problems and get along in life. A child who is encouraged to try again when he fails will believe that failure is just a necessary stepping stone to success. Such a child will risk failing many times until he finally succeeds. The ability to persevere is a hallmark of a positive self-image. A child who perseveres trusts his own judgment and thinks for himself rather than relying on the opinion of others.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Iris Pearce
• Release date: Jun 30, 2015
• ISBN: 9781890498801

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Every Child a Winner

12 Spiritual Tools To Develop Self-esteem In Young Children

by Iris Pearce and Dorothy Castle, Ph.D.

Every Child A Winner

Copyright © 2000 by Dorothy Castle and Iris Pearce

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator, at the address below.

ISBN 978-1-890498-80-1

Edited by Marjorie George

Cover design by Louise Daniel

Publisher:

Stillpoint-by-the-Sea Books

P. O. Box 90016

San Antonio, Texas 78209

Toll free: 1-800-241-2088

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Editor’s Note

Introduction

Chapter One: God loves us unconditionally

Chapter Two: God gives us a strong mind

Chapter Three: God empowers us through His Holy Spirit

Chapter Four: God calls us to be peacemakers

Chapter Five: God blesses us to become a blessing to others

Chapter Six: God gives us a spirit of gentleness

Chapter Seven: God bestows abundant life

Chapter Eight: God heals through others

Chapter Nine: God desires good self-care for us

Chapter Ten: Focus on God and good

Chapter Eleven: God calls us into contentment

Chapter Twelve: Our true worth comes from God

Acknowledgements

March, 2000

This book would have never happened if Cecilia Gonzalez de Gutierrez had not invited us to present a program to help the children of migrant workers in McAllen, Texas. We expected 50 parents and ended up with about 350.

Part of the presentation had to be made in Spanish. Dorothy, who does not know the language, wrote down phonetically what she had to say. She delivered it so splendidly that she got a long-standing ovation from the parents.

Since the schools involved were public schools, we had to remove references to God and the Scriptures from the materials. This book restores the material we took out because it will be used by children in church-sponsored schools, beginning in Dallas, Texas. John Castle, Dorothy’s generous husband, has underwritten the cost of many copies of this book to be used by children in schools of the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas.

This is written for the children.

Iris Pearce and Dorothy Castle

Introduction

Self-esteem separates the winners from the losers. For Christians, such self-esteem comes from the knowledge that God created us for Himself out of sheer love. We are God’s beloved children, one community of faith through Christ Jesus. God loves each of us unconditionally from the day we are born and calls us to be part of His family. This Christian truth provides the primary foundation on which to build self-esteem in young children and forms the basis of the spiritual tools described in this book.

Children who believe that they are loved unconditionally feel worthy of the good things in life, such as happiness and success. A child who feels he is capable of handling successfully whatever difficulties arise in this life will have the necessary confidence to overcome his problems and get along in life. A child who is encouraged to try again when he fails will believe that failure is just a necessary stepping stone to success. Such a child will risk failing many times until he finally succeeds. The ability to persevere is a hallmark of a positive self-image. A child who perseveres trusts his own judgment and thinks for himself rather than relying on the opinion of others.

The core of the self is based upon what the individual child believes about himself and how he views himself in the context of his family, his particular social setting, and the world at large. Since a child’s first experience of God comes through his earthly family, parents must instill in the spirit of each child the notion that he is loved and appreciated without reservation because God created him and placed him in this family.

By extension, a child learns that unconditional love comes from his heavenly Father and that both he and his family belong to God’s family. When this truth takes root in the heart of a child, he realizes that there is a powerful resource beyond his earthly situation on which he can rely. Such knowledge empowers the child with self-confidence and motivation to develop into the person God created him to be.

Experts in the field of psychology, such as Denis Waitley, Nathaniel Branden, and Carolyn Ball, readily agree that a person is who he thinks he is. A person’s thoughts about himself control the reality of who he is and how he behaves in this world. A child who knows that he is a beloved child of God, created out of pure and unconditional love by the most powerful force in the universe, will think positively about himself and will grow up to be a confident adult who can cope with the world and live his life successfully.

Parents, teachers, and other authority