A psychologist says parents should do these 12 things to raise a more confident child

1. Appreciate effort no matter if they win or lose.

When you're growing up, the journey is more important than the destination.
So whether your child makes the winning goal for his team or accidentally kicks it out of bounds, applaud their effort, Pickhardt says. They should never feel embarrassed for trying.
"Over the long haul, consistently trying hard builds more confidence than intermittently doing well," he explains.

2. Encourage practice to build competence.

Encourage your child to practice whatever it is they're interested in — but do so without putting too much pressure on them.
Harmony Shu, a piano prodigy, told Ellen DeGeneres that she started practicing when she was just 3 years old.
"Practice invests effort in the confident expectation that improvement will follow," Pickhardt explains.

3. Let them figure out problems by themselves.

If you do the hard work for your child then they'll never develop the abilities or the confidence to figure out problems on their own.
"Parental help can prevent confidence derived from self-help and figuring out on the child's own," Pickhardt explains.
In other words, better that your child gets a few B's and C's rather than straight A's, so long as they are actually learning how to solve the problems and do the work.

4. Encourage curiosity.

Sometimes a child's endless stream of questions can be tiresome, but it should be encouraged.
Paul Harris of Harvard University told The Guardian that asking questions is a helpful exercise for a child's development because it means they realize that "there are things they don't know ... that there are invisible worlds of knowledge they have never visited."
When children start school, those from households that encouraged curious questions have an edge over the rest of their classmates because they've had practice taking in information from their parents, The Guardian reported, and that translates to taking in information from their teacher. In other words, they know how to learn better and faster.

5. Give them new challenges.

Show your child that they can make and accomplish small goals to reach a big accomplishment — like riding a bike without training wheels.
"Parents can nurture confidence by increasing responsibilities that must be met," Pickhardt explains.

6. Never criticize their performance.

Nothing will discourage your child more than criticizing his or her efforts. Giving useful feedback and making suggestions is fine — but never tell them they're doing a bad job.
If your kid is scared to fail because they worry you'll be angry or disappointed, they'll never try new things.
"More often than not, parental criticism reduces the child's self-valuing and motivation," says Pickhardt.