Being a teenager is hard in any form, but being a teenage girl can be a particularly difficult experience. Puberty, peer pressure, school, young love, it can be an extremely challenging web to weave for a young girl who is just entering teen-dom or one who is well-versed in teenage politics. With all of the pressures from outside forces, young women often times have a serious issue with developing proper self-esteem.
The pressure to look perfect, get perfect grades, and maintain the front of a perfect social life can lead teenage girls to take harmful actions.
If your teenage daughter is in the midst of her adolescence, try these great self-esteem boosting tools to keep her confident.
1. Compliment Her The Right Way
Compliments mean a lot to humans at any age, but they can be especially important to teenage girls. Those small moments of validation do wonders for building self-confidence, as a parent, it is important that you hand out compliments as frequently as possible. It is also important to compliment your teenager the right way. As important and awesome as they may be, only focusing on compliments based on looks and style can be a detriment. Make sure that you are complimenting your daughter on her academic and social attributes as well as her positive personality traits. It is important that your daughter’s self-esteem also be tied to things that are completely separated from her looks.
2. Take Stock In Her Interests
Whether this means taking the time to get interested in one of her favorite television shows or supporting her other hobbies, show your daughter that her interests are just important to you as she is. Not only will this give the two of you something new and fun to connect over but it will also show your daughter that you can still relate to her.
3. Get Her Involved in Team Sports and Activities
Numerous studies have shown that girls who play team sports tend to have higher self-esteem than those that don’t. Team sports give girls the opportunity to develop lasting, healthy relationships with other girls as well as the chance to gain confidence in their own accomplishments. Of course, if your daughter isn’t interested in playing sports other girl-centric team activities like Girl Scouts and church groups will do just fine as well.
4. Let Your Daughter Find Her Own “Thing”
As a mother, it is natural to want your daughter to share all of your own interests, especially if you’re looking for something to bond over. And while there’s absolutely nothing wrong with introducing your daughter to the things that you love or activities that you think will benefit her, it is also important that you allow her to make a way for herself. Allow her the room to properly figure out who she is, let her try new, different things, and watch her self-esteem flourish as she comes into her own as she discovers new passions.
5. Allow Her to Be Outwardly Confident
Often times, girls are taught that they should underplay their accomplishments and positive attributes. This mindset almost always tends to hurt them later in life, turning them into women who lack confidence in their abilities. It is important not to discourage your daughter from being outwardly confident about the things she is proud of concerning herself. While you should definitely encourage her not to be exceedingly arrogant, there is nothing wrong with your daughter admitting that she is a smart, beautiful, talented young woman.
6. Let Her Cultivate Her Own Style
Whether they like to keep up to date with current fashion trends or walk to the beat of their own stylish drum, fashion tends to be a large part of teenagers lives. Even if it isn’t something that you would personally wear, you should allow your daughter to find her own style. Her choices may not always be popular or particularly stylish to you, but if your daughter has the confidence to rock it despite others’ thoughts, then it is the perfect choice. Of course, you should still set boundaries, but be sure to remember that her ability to explore is extremely important.
7. Don’t Be Afraid To Talk To Her
Many of us remember how terrifying and embarrassing it was to talk to our mothers about certain topics as teenagers. What we didn’t realize was how difficult is was for our mothers as well. Having open lines of communication is a huge part of building a good relationship with your daughter. Give your daughter the space to come to you with anything on her mind, whether it’s as trivial as your opinion a pair of shoes or as complicated as teenage boys.
8. Be An Example For Your Daughter
A girl’s first foray into the world of self-esteem and self-confidence is her mother. We learn a lot about how we should treat and feel about ourselves by how our mothers do it. While it is impossible to be an unflinching woman who is constantly full of endless amounts of confidence, it is important to lead by example. Show your daughter how to properly love and care for herself by exhibiting all of the same qualities that you want her to exhibit. In the end, the both of you will succeed in getting a pretty major self-esteem boost.