Children who are raised to think that other people are better than they are, smarter than they are or better looking, and just better, in general, will certainly have low self esteem. For them to have a healthy, high self esteem, they must hear that they are and be treated as if they’re good people with a unique set of talents that no one else has.
A child may not be good in math, but very good in language, for instance. It won’t do any good to tell the child he’s bad at math–he or she already knows that. Instead, the child should be given positive reinforcement for what he’s good at, language, and for trying hard to be good at math. This ensures that he gets the message that while he may not be good at one thing, he is good at another, and more important, that he or she should continue to work at becoming stronger in the areas where he’s weak.
What children hear when they’re young is what they’ll tell themselves as an adult and this will determine low self esteem or high self esteem. Encourage and love children when they’re small, forgive them when they fail but continue to get them to try to improve and experiment with new things and you can be sure the child will grow up to have healthy self esteem, not low self esteem.