I just spent the weekend in Newport Beach with my boyfriend and his 2 twin Fourteen-year-old boys. Boys sure are fun, and what I realized is that they are not too different from girls, at least not at 14. They care what they look like, their hair, their cloths and they don’t want their Dad or their Dad’s girlfriend touching them in public.
So image is important and it starts at a young age, probably around 12 years-old, and goes on until we are; well, until we figure out that what’s on the outside isn’t the most important thing in the world.
So what can we do to encourage our teens to have more self-confidence? First and foremost is set a good example. If we are walking around talking about how we don’t like our bodies, or our hair looks like crap, and our cloths are out of style, you can bet that our teens will notice and follow suit.
If you do anything to help your teen, it’s don’t talk negatively about yourself and also don’t talk negatively about them. If you are slamming them they will get good at slamming themselves. Also, talk to them about why they don’t like certain things about themselves and help them understand how they might be able to change their perception or attitudes about the those things. We all want to feel good about ourselves; the best gift we can give our teenager is positive reinforcement.
The best thing we can do for ourselves is also positive reinforcement.