It is important for parents to make sure that…
It is important for parents to make sure that their kids have an appropriate level of self-esteem. One of the best ways to give your children self-esteem is to convey to them and show them how good your own self-esteem is. Children will look at a parent's unhappiness and sometimes think that it is their own fault for their parents being unhappy.
— from Family & Parenting (Family/Parenting)
In the book
Tell them, in plain words, that you are proud of them — do not save it, the way too many do, for a deathbed. And know that the most powerful gift to a child's self-esteem is to let them see your own: children watch a parent's unhappiness and quietly conclude it must somehow be their fault, so modeling a steady, healthy self-regard is itself an act of love. Above all, listen. When you truly stop and hear a child — without rushing, without judging, without leaping in to fix — you tell them that what they feel is real and that their voice matters; much of what a child needs is simply for you to stop racing through the day and be there. — Family & Parenting (Family/Parenting)