Self Esteem As Seen By A 10-year old

Hey, this is Snezna. I recently asked my 10-year-old daughter, Bella, to write down what self esteem means to her...here are her words

Self esteem is about either loving or not loving yourself for who you are! Low self esteem is really common and means you don't like yourself...sometimes not at all, and sometimes only a little bit. But, if you have high self esteem you love yourself :) And that is awesome! Unfortunately, not as many girls have high self esteem as low self esteem :(

And more girls than boys have low self esteem. Sadly, feeling bad about yourself can lead to even killing yourself. You probably don't know what I'm talking about. Well, some people that have low self esteem sometimes end up committing suicide....all because they don't like who they are.

Recently I saw a video clip that my mum showed me about a girl named Jade. She was a beautiful girl who was bullied and made to feel bad about herself. She ended up cutting herself (which I will tell you about in a second). She made the clip about being bullied....then a couple of days later...guess what happened? She killed herself. And do you know why she felt so sad and bad about herself? Because of girls who constantly bullied her. She was a beautiful girl...inside and out...and they made her not see that, which was really upsetting!

Now, to get on about cutting. Some people cut themselves because they don't like themselves. They use any sharp object to cut through their skin and then afterwards it stings. And, the worst part is, it stings for a long time.

There is also high self esteem, which is good. If you have high self esteem you accept yourself for who you are and are happy in yourself. Bullies are less likely to get to someone with high self esteem! A lot of celebs are now releasing songs about self esteem, which is good :)

Sadly, a few people I know have low self esteem issues. What I want people to know, well, really two things, is that you should NEVER bully someone. And, second, never feel ashamed or bad about being you!!!!