Virtual Teacher

Like adults, children are not immune to the stressors of life. In managing personal and academic challenges, kids quite often experience frustration, expressing high concern and self-doubt with remarks such as: I can’t do anything right. I messed up again. I’m so stupid. I’m a failure if I can’t do this. Nothing works out for me. I’m going to do awful. I know I’m going to fail this test. The other kids think I’m weird. Everybody makes fun of me. I know something bad is going to happen. Most children seem unaware of this pattern of negative thinking, missing the important connection between repetitive and pessimistic self-talking (negative thoughts) and a low self-confidence with high anxiety. Like with the rest of us, these kinds of negative judgments or beliefs put us down; we criticize ourselves harshly for common errors and mistakes, doubt of our skills and abilities, and anticipate only the worst. With children specifically, negative and pessimistic thinking stron...