Causes and symptoms of insecurity in children

Child insecurity is a type of fear or fear that children experience before any real or imaginary event that implies failure , losing the love or attention of parents or people of special reference. It is a negative emotional state that causes cognitive, behavioral and social alterations. Knowing the

Child insecurity is a type of fear or fear that children experience before any real or imaginary event that implies failure, losing the love or attention of parents or people of special reference. It is a negative emotional state that causes cognitive, behavioral and social alterations.

Knowing the causes and symptoms of insecurity in children will allow us to help them regain confidence in themselves and to feel loved and valuable in their family, at school and among their peer group.

Causes of insecurity in children

Among the many causes that can generate feelings of insecurity in children, we will highlight three as the most important as well as avoidable:

1. Overly strict, authoritarian or overprotective educational styles that diminish the development of the child's autonomy. These educational styles prevent children from making their own decisions either because the parents are afraid of something happening to their children or because of the rigidity with which they are educated. Be that as it may, in all three types of cases, it is the parents who decide and control what, how and when your child does. This type of education, demanding, rigid or overprotective, causes in the long run:

- Feelings of inferiority in children.

- Loss of self-confidence.

- Loss of self-esteem.

- Fear of making mistakes, failing or making any decision because each time the child tries to do anything by himself there is someone who does it for him, forbids or reproaches him.

2.Lack of affection, affection or explicit refusal. Children need to feel loved, valuable and important to their parents. The excess of criticism or even humiliation has a negative impact on the creation of self-concept and self-esteem of our children. Parents must provide a safe and stable family environment so that they can develop an adequate emotional balance that facilitates the development of social-emotional skills to function properly in the world.

3.Comparisons between siblings and jealousy not overcome. The birth of a sibling can provoke feelings of insecurity in the child who thinks that he is no longer important enough for his parents to believe that they pay more attention to the newborn. These feelings can be entangled if, as parents grow up, we constantly compare children, underestimating one's abilities and overestimating those of the other.

How is the child insecure

The insecure child does not trust himself or his abilities or qualities. He is a child who doubts any decision he must make, with a high sense of ridicule that diminishes his spontaneity and freshness and prevents him from making friends or establishing lasting and stable personal relationships. It is a child with low self-esteem and little or tolerance for frustration, very sensitive to any criticism and who usually surrenders to the first before any setback. In short, we are facing a child who:

- Doubts a lot about any decision that should be made.

- Delete or cross out your drawings or school exercises a lot.

- Shows fear of the error and prefers to inhibit before failing.

- Easily frustrated.

- Obtains a poor school performance.

- He is a highly dependent child, not very autonomous, always asks the adult for help.

- It is difficult for him to make friends and when he does they are children younger than him, with whom he feels more comfortable.

- It is possible that he expresses his insecurity through disobedience and aggressiveness, or quite the opposite, being shy, passive or submissive.

- He underestimates himself, he does not believe in himself, he usually verbalizes that he can not.

- He is a child with many fears, unfit for his age or much more intense than one might expect.

- You have nightmares or problems falling asleep.