Self Respect vs. Self Esteem - Single Mom University ®

Get ready to learn about self respect versus self esteem with Jill Garner!

Explain Jill’s analogy of the mirror and the window she used in her teaching. How can you implement this into your parenting? How can you teach your children to use the same teaching in their own lives when it comes to this principle?
How might damaged self esteem heal from understanding a godly view of self respect? How can you help guide your children to understand how God views them?
Take an index card and list words that God uses to describe you. Store it in a place you can refer to often. Some good places to find God’s descriptions of His children is Ephesians 2, Psalms 139, and Colossians 3.
Parenting children is not for the weak at heart. Teaching your children the importance of valuing themselves without putting pressure on themselves to be perfect is tricky. Jill Savage has great advice in her course The Perfection Infection here in SMU. See if that may give pointers on more ways to demonstrate the value God places on your children.

It is likely that you demand respect in your home from your children. How have you shown respect to your children?
Do your children respect you? In what way do you know that to be true? How do they exhibit their respect or disrespect?
How does self-respect vary from self-esteem?
What is the danger of “esteeming” our children too highly, if any? What is the danger of “respecting” our children too much, if any?
Self-esteem focuses our children on themselves rather than God and others. Yet, we know the Word teaches that we are to focus on others first and die to self. This is likely a new concept for you. What are your thoughts?
Do your children lack respect for others? Do they get along well with peers? Teachers? Other adults? Do they respect authority? Why do you believe this is so?
How do you teach your kids to respect others? Respect themselves? What are effective techniques that you have used?

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