Developing children's self-esteem is a vital task of the role of early years practitioners. Self-esteem ranks among the most important aspects of children's social-cognitive development. It is 'an aspect of self-concept that involves judgements about one's own worth and the feelings associated with those judgements' (LEBerk, Child Development, 1994, p440).
The acquisition of self-esteem is our growing sense of importance in the world around us. Some people mistakenly believe that this is about having indiscriminate high regard for oneself and that this can be achieved through constant praise. In fact, this approach 'is more likely to feed children's self-preoccupation and narcissism than to help them form a genuine sense of their own worth' (Docking, 1980, in R Roberts, Self-Esteem and Early Learning, 2002).
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