When I was a kid, we didn’t hand out Valentines to everyone in our class (and they were not at all Pinterest worthy). In sports, we didn’t all receive trophies for participating. And, we didn’t have to feel guilty about not inviting the entire class to our birthday parties. Egos got bruised for sure.

Oh, how times have changed.

Despite our best efforts to protect our children’s feelings, there will come the day when your child will be excluded. There’s no way around it. Maybe it’s a party, an outing somewhere, or a friend leaves him off of a group text. Only now, social media makes the exclusions all the more apparent and has the power to crush their little souls like nothing else.

Sure, we encourage our kids to include others, to be empathetic, and to stand up for their friends and classmates. But we can’t always shield them from rejection, nor should we want to, as difficult as it may be to witness. Rather, we want them to come out the other side, stronger and more confident. (Note: I am not talking about bullying, an entirely different issue).

Sometimes, books say it better than we can, and at the very least, may open up talking points with our children.

Books that Inspire Self-Confidence and Self-Esteem:

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