Often without thinking about it, parents fortify their adolescents’ self-esteem every day, whether it’s by complimenting them on a job well done or disciplining them for breaking a rule. However, all parents have days when they bruise their adolescent’s egos or simply miss an opening to make them feel good about themselves. Here are some easy ways to help instil self-esteem in your adolescent.
- Be Generous With Praise
“Parents don’t tell their adolescents often enough what they did right,” in fact generally, people rarely tell people what they did right. The focus is always on what they did wrong. Commend your adolescent not only for accomplishments but for effort—including those times when it fails to bring the desired results. In addition, it’s always right to encourage adolescents to feel proud of themselves. Pride should shine from within, not just in response to external approval.
Adolescent with low self-esteem may feel awkward accepting praise. If that’s true of your teen, then hand out compliments freely and sincerely.Adolescents have internal radars that tell them when Mom and Dad are merely trying to make them feel good. If anything, it has an opposite effect.
- Criticize When Necessary, but Constructively
Even when trying to be constructive, try as much as possible to not let it be in a hurtful or demeaning manner. For instance…
Instead of saying: “How could you have gotten that answer wrong on your chemistry test?”
Say: “You almost got the answer. With a little extra studying, I’m sure you’ll do better next time.”
- Solicit Your Adolescent’s Opinions
Adolescents have no shortage of opinions and viewpoints, therefore Include him/her in everyday family decisions and implement some of his/her suggestions. What do they think about the new couch you’re considering for the living room? Adolescents love nothing better than to be treated like grownups, and they are usually flattered anytime you invite them into the adult world.
- Encourage Your Adolescentsto Cultivate Their Talents and Interests
Everybody excels at something. Everybody needs to excel at something. Let your adolescents follow their passion, whatever they may be. Even interests that you may consider frivolous can provide opportunities for success and a safe outlet for peer acceptance. Sport is generally a popular arena for achievement among adolescents. Nevertheless, what if your son’s talent is singing or simply playing a musical instrument like the drums that can be pretty noisy?
Support their hobbies, ‘the drum playing’, or any other pastime, don’t interfere with more pressing responsibilities such as schoolwork. “Parents shouldn’t just say no to kids,” says Dr. Robert Blum of University Hospitals in Minneapolis. “They also have to say yes, to help them find positive ways of building self-esteem and exploring their self-identity.”
It is important to be aware that like boy-girl infatuations, an adolescent’s enthusiasm for a particular pursuit may be short-lived. Until your adolescent demonstrates a serious commitment, you might want to hold off on buying expensive top-of-the-line equipment or lessons right away.
- Register you teen(s) to attend our PERSONAL EFFECTIVENESS for Teens – Maximizing the Teen Potential session coming up the 8th of April 2015 and EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION for Teens – Tackling the Social Media Erosion session coming up the 8th of April 2015.
One of the life-skills to be taught on that day is Emotional Intelligence which is the ability to identify and manage your own emotions and the emotions of others hence, adding to your teen’s Personal Effectiveness. The facets of Emotional Intelligence include; Self-Awareness, Self-Relationship Management, Motivation/Passion, Social-Skills and Empathy.
Lessons adolescents would learn from this Personal Effectiveness session include…
- Analyze different ways to deal positively with others and build effective relationships in and out of school.
- Use practical methods to manage your time better and avoid procrastination.
- Use different techniques to increase your self confidence
- Understand how to overcome peer pressure
- Know and manage yourselves and your relationships better using the key concept of Emotional Intelligence.
- Learn to be assertive, meet needs and work with others
Lessons he/she would learn from this Effective Communicationsession include…
- Understand the difference between formal and informal writing.
- Appreciate the negative effects of social media slangs.
- Recognize areas for improvement for effective communication.
- Use and interpret body language for effective communication
- Conduct effective teen research using proper sources.
- Hold better conversations that influence people
See testimony of Master Bruno Okpara below after attending one of our adolescent’s life-skills sessions
These two full day teen sessions cost only N42,000.00 (Inclusive of VAT) which will include our usual 3-course African/Continental buffet lunch that your adolescents love!
Places are limited so hurry and book your teen for this one time Easter bonanza as limited seats are available. To book, reply the email stating your intention to book your Adolescent(s) as well as the corresponding name(s) and we will reply with an invoice detailing session venue details and payment instructions.