10 Ways to Boost Teen Confidence
Being confident doesn't come naturally to everyone. Our partners at Role Models share ten ways you can help your teen boost their confidence
Define confidence.
Confidence is having the ability to believe in your own capabilities.
Confidence is where you believe in yourself, you have self-confidence. You are secure in who you are, your values, ideas and trust that you can succeed.
Why is being confident so important?
The more confident you become, the quieter the voice inside you says, 'I can't do it.' This is so important as you become more likely to take risks, try something new and not fear failure.
Confidence helps you replace fear, anxiety, and self-doubt with the self-confidence to know that you can handle any setback, obstacle or challenge. You also have greater self-worth and therefore value your capabilities and are proud of who you are and what you bring to any situation. Being confident helps you navigate through life and can lead to a happier and more successful life.
10 Ways to Boost Teen Confidence
- Celebrate their accomplishments, no matter how big or small.
- Teach your teen to focus on themselves, and their own goals and needs, and to not compare to others.
- Encourage them to take risks, try something new and learn new skills. This will help get them out of their comfort zone.
- Practice self-compassion - help them understand how to be kind to themselves. If they fail, teach them to not be too harsh on themselves and to talk to themselves how they would talk to a friend.
- Inspire them to help someone in need. By relieving someone else's stress, we can relieve our own. Also helping others releases hormones such as serotonin which make us feel good.
- Practice positive self-talk with your teen and support them with positive affirmations. Get them to confirm the great things about themselves, even if it is one thing in the morning or one thing before bed. You can get them to stand in front of the mirror and repeat positive statements. Try and encourage them to come up with their own.
- Give your teenager tasks and responsibilities around the house. Giving them responsibilities helps to make them feel competent and will give them a confidence boost.
- Help them overcome the fear of failure. Assure them that making mistakes and failure is a normal part of life and offer them the opportunity to learn. Everyone makes mistakes and these setbacks or obstacles can lead to success.
- Help them find their passions and interests. If they can find something that they enjoy and are skilled at, this will help them gain confidence in their capabilities and in themselves.
- Allow them to have step-by-step freedom. The key to this is to move the goalposts slowly enough to be sure your teenager is ready for the new freedom, but quickly enough that they feel like things are moving in the right direction. Giving them the opportunity to make their own decisions and learn how to weigh things up and manage risks, will give them confidence in themselves and their abilities.
---
Role Models offer online sessions and courses for 11-13-year-olds, helping them to develop their confidence, collaboration skills, leadership qualities, creative problem solving, and resilience. All content has been built by our in-house education team who are ex-teachers and qualified coaches.
For further ideas on supporting your teens, take a look at Teen Tips which provides a number of webinars and workshops on how as a parent you can create a healthy & happy home.
