A person with a healthy self-esteem leads a healthy life and has healthy relationships with those around them. People have low self-esteem for various reasons, the primary being the feedback we get from those around us. Another reason for low self esteem is the feedback we get from comparing ourselves to the 'ideal' person - an image we make from larger than life characters we see through media such as television, which remains a top-of the rank source of forming our idea of the world we live in.

When we see larger than life characters on TV, we get a mental idea of what one SHOULD be like, and we get a larger than life mental image of beauty and intelligence. Since it is hard for one to be as efficient as the heroes we see on TV, it no doubt leads to a negative self-evaluation, and therefore a low self-esteem.

As a parent, it is an important duty to develop a child's self esteem. Children do not react to society in the same manner as adults do - they do not really care about racist attitudes and exceptional beauty, and these are traits, which they pick up from adults as they grow up. While it is important to encourage your child to judge people and situations in a just manner, one should always make sure one doesn't let the child get biases about anything. Most importantly, do not let your child feel unaccepted because they cannot perform certain duties as well as others.

Every human being has their own gifts, and it is better to focus on what a child can do well, rather than to put him or her down for not doing well at certain things. For example, some children are just cut out to be athletes while others are better at academics. It would be disastrous to force a football star into a desk job!

It is as disastrous to force a child to do something he or she isn't very good at - it would lead to a low self-esteem. At the same time, it is important to maintain a balance in life, and this should be imparted to the child's mind as well.

It is a common mistake that parents make to compare one sibling with another. It doesn't take one to be too smart to realize that this is destructive. Not only would you be lowering the child's self esteem, you would also be building walls between one sibling and the other by making comparisons. Finally, do make your child feel loved even when they cannot perform well. Acceptance from parents is the child's immediate happiness, while a parent's rejection can ruin a child's self esteem.