Who Believes In You? (You and Others).(Brief Article)

Sarah Green was the only girl in her fourth-grade class who signed up for the community's youth basketball league. She felt good about her decision. She knew what she liked and could do, and most of the time it didn't bother her to be different. But sometimes other kids teased, and that hurt.

One night she told her older brother, Steve, what the kids were saying. She felt much better when he said, "Sarah, you and I shoot hoops all the time. You're good. Don't worry. You'll show them."

Who Are You?

Developing a sense of self is one of the most important parts of growing up. It involves knowing yourself and feeling comfortable with yourself. If you can say "I like myself," you have self-esteem. To hold something in esteem means you value it. Self-esteem is respecting yourself.

Having good self-esteem does not mean you are stuck up and think you're better than other people. People with good self-esteem know they are good at some things and they could be better at certain things if they tried harder and practiced more. People with good self-esteem accept what they can't change. Sometimes they may wish that their hair or eyes were a different color or that they were taller or shorter, but they still accept themselves.

Self-esteem is based on how you feel about yourself. But that feeling is affected by how you get along with others.

At Home