How You Can Support a Teenage Girl With Their Self-Esteem
The teenage years are some of the most challenging years for anybody to go through.
Things change quickly for pre-teens into teenage years. Navigating changing hormones, moods, relationships, likes, and dislikes that will change by the hour. Teens will be leaving behind the things they enjoyed as a child and will be beginning to work out who they are and where their lives will be going over the next few years as they go through high school and eventually college.
The teenage years are often rife with periods of self-doubt and low self-esteem. As people who love and support children and young people, it can be hard to watch them go through it.
So how do you support them as they go through these challenging changes?
Here are some ideas.
Focus on areas of special effort and accomplishment
Kids and teens can be perfectionists and will often become their own worst critics. It is, therefore, very important to teach them to focus on being proud of the effort they put into something rather than focusing on being number one at everything they do. Of course, it’s natural to want to encourage your teens to be the best, but try switching the narrative to being the best they can be.
This is one of the best tools for learning in the future that mistakes are not always failures and that they should be seen as an opportunity for learning and growth.
Teach Positive Self-Talk
Teens can boost their low self-esteem by being encouraged to turn their negative talk into the positive talk that they need to boost their self-worth. Teens may often speak of themselves in downcast, disparaging ways that will only increase their feelings of low self-esteem. Remind them to stop using phrases like ‘I can’t do this.’ Instead use ‘This is hard, but I have the tools I need to do this.’ By changing the narrative slightly, they are acknowledging the challenging parts of life while still being able to do the things to make it possible.
Encourage Trying New Things
Not everybody finds their passions in life by doing the things they learned to do in school. Sometimes a little added extracurricular activity will give them added confidence to find out what they enjoy and are most passionate about. Teens may also be able to use these new activities as a way of meeting new friends which will help them to start to feel better about themselves.
Encourage Therapy
Teens with poor self-esteem may also suffer from depression and anxiety. In which case, it may be beneficial for them to get some therapy to help them to navigate these feelings. Eva Carlson Academy reviews talk about being a specialist agency for teen girls who are experiencing poor self-esteem and the associations that come with that.
Getting therapy may help your teens to set goals and learn how to take the steps to accomplish them. This learned process can help teens with poor self-esteem begin to feel better about themselves.
