Building Teen Self Confidence
One of the toughest obstacles to overcome is gaining self-confidence. When we are children, the world is revolved around us and we feel that we can do anything. These feelings are true because no one has told us otherwise, however as we get older and become exposed to the "real world" we realize that we are not great at everything we do and the struggle of self-discovery begins. As a parent, teacher, or caregiver this can be a time of struggle too.
We want to help our young teen get through this turbulent sea, but we know that we can not do it for our teen. There are things that an older influence can do to help children gain confidence. A few ideas are:
• Positive feedback – Instead of pointing out where a teen went wrong, focus and express on the positive. Praising for efforts instead of criticizing failure will provide a positive feeling for a teen.
• Safety – Help a teen feel safe in their environment and let them know that you are a safe person to chat with and not attack them with lectures. This will help them get their feelings out.
• Setting up – Set your teen up for success and not failure. Help them focus on their positive traits and talents and help them find activities that will nurture those traits.
• Talk – Talking about what is going on in their world and listening to what they have to say can help your teen figure out who they are in life. Share embarrassing stories about your teen years which will help them realize that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Appropriate Outlets For Teens
Another outlet for teenagers is finding a safe website for teenagers. A safe site will allow them to log on and chat with their peers. It is helpful for anyone to realize that they are not the only one to have certain feelings; this is especially true for teens. This is a time in their life where they are trying to figure out where they fit in this wacky world. It can be comforting to know that they are not alone. A safe website offers chat areas with other teens, a place to voice their opinion, informational links that they can gain information on a certain subject (scholastic or social), and fun games and news to entertain them.
Developing Outlets For Expression
Some kids have a tough time expressing their thoughts into words. There are a few things that can help with the process of teaching educational activities for kids (all ages) how to write. A few things would be:
• Read to your child at a young age and encourage them to keep reading as they get older. This will help teach them sequence, inflection, character development, and more. They will take this knowledge and apply it to their writing.
• Encourage your child and teen to come up with a storyline. Ask questions about a character or scene that they are developing. Help your child to brainstorm ideas.
• Show your child how to journal their own experiences and give them a safe journal and make an agreement not to read it unless they would like to share and encourage the desire to share.
If your child is still having trouble writing, well there are a few writing resource for kids that may help. A few games that you can try at home or school would be:
• Start a scenario for a story and have your child finish it. Set a scene or develop a character and have them put their own spin on it.
• Try a parts of speech game. Have them fill three boxes with nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc. and then help them develop a story around their choices
• The crazy animal game will give your child a fun story to write about. Have them pick an animal and a crazy action that it may do. The story will develop from there.
We are a world that likes to be interactive with our surroundings; where we like to touch and be a part of an experience. An interactive website for teens will provide this for our toughest audience. A website that lets them log on, provide their own opinions, read others, chat about themselves with peers, link to cross-referenced sites, and more.
Author Bio :-
Whatarekidssaying.com is a writing resource for kids that give today’s youth a voice amongst their peers and in society. WAKS strives to be the best place on the internet for kids to have a voice, express their views, and cherish and nurture their literary talents. Their goal is to also offer a valuable tool to educators in the pursuit of making writing more interesting, while increasing computer literacy for children. Founder Ian Gold aims to provide youth with a platform for authentic dialogue by teaching kids creative writing through educational activities for kids.
