With increased anxiety and depression, and with reduced self-esteem, how do we bring about a positive change in self-reflection, self-care and growth of teenagers? Today’s blog post asks this very question.
Importance of personal growth
Personal growth and self-improvement are important facets of life that aren’t merely the preserve of adults. Quite the contrary; they are in fact, key life skills that can help us to better understand ourselves, regardless of life stage. And mastering them can help teenagers enhance their career prospects and enrich their lives.
Place2be is a is a children’s mental health charity with over 25 years’ experience working with pupils, families and staff in UK schools, to improve children’s and young people’s mental health.
The state of childrens’ mental health
A previous study conducted by Place2be found that a staggering 95% of school staff noticed an increase in:
- Anxiety in children.
- Low self-esteem (86%).
- Depression (76%).
- Anger (68%).
And for high school staff specifically, the following increases were observed:
- Self-harm (72%).
- Suicidal thoughts (61%).
- Eating difficulties (56%).
At the same time, just 23% of school staff felt they could access the specialist support required for students who needed it (not regularly, at least).
In the adult world, many of us have continued to develop and grow, despite the challenges of the past 2 years. For example, we’ve adjusted to new ways of working, socialising and learning. But to keep growing, it’s important to stop and reflect on the personal qualities that have helped us to grow, cope and thrive, in addition to understanding how we’ve helped others too.
With self-development in mind, here are 7 simple ways you can support your child in their journey towards personal and emotional growth.
1. Model the life skills you want to see your child develop.
The aim with development of life-skills in teenagers and children is to bolster their central core, so they can benefit from a toolbox of useful resources for the rest of their lives, thus empowering them to evolve and grow throughout their entire life.
The ultimate aim (and indeed, requirement) of the process is for teenagers and children to discover and employ creative solutions to life’s ups and downs.
What are the prerequisites for all of this? In my opinion, the main requirement is that the teenager or child is surrounded by adults who show a keen interest in their personality and world view.
As adults, we are role models in how children learn to deal with life’s challenges and stress. Therefore, the more we improve our own resilience and coping skills, the healthier and more resilient our children will become.
2. Listen, Listen, Listen…
Did you know that a whopping 96% of us consider ourselves good listeners? Yet, despite this, we are thought to only retain about half of what others say. Why? Because we have a tendency to think about what we’re going to say, at the same time as we should still be listening. When we listen more, young people are more likely to talk to us, allowing us to better support them as they grow and develop.
We can help show our commitment towards communicating with young people by resisting the urge to offer advice and resisting the urge to pass judgement.
Another positive (potential) end result when we allow young people to just talk, is that they often reach a conclusion themselves.
3. Celebrate and acknowledge growth
Unlike the more easily recognised physical growth, emotional growth can often be overlooked. However, something so little as letting them know how proud you are when they have learnt to walk away from an argument can really pay dividends. Change doesn’t happen overnight, but by recognising any trend towards a positive change in behaviour, we can help encourage them during this important period of growth.
4. Support children and teens in developing emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence is our ability to recognise, understand, manage, and express our emotions in a healthy way, and can lead to:
- Higher academic achievements.
- Stronger relationships.
- Better health.
Related to this is something called emotional literacy, which is how we communicate our emotions to others, and how we understand them in other people, as well as ourselves. Helping teenagers and children to recognise and understand how they’re feeling – and then find healthy ways to manage their emotions – can prove helpful to children’s confidence and self-esteem. But how do we do this? We can:
- Help them to label how they’re feeling.
- Acknowledge how they feel, and find healthy ways to deal with this.
- Acknowledge their own emotional responses without judgement.
- Model healthy ways of handling their emotions.
- Encourage them to talk about their feelings, when they’re ready.
Next steps
We offer hypnotherapy both online and face to face, as well as in your own home, if you’re a blue badge holder living within approx’ 10 miles of WF14 9ED.
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About us
We are Hypnotic Universe (formerly Mirfield Hypnotherapy Centre) and we help you use the power of your own mind to achieve your goals, and live the life that you want.
Disclaimer
We do our best to provide suggestions based on our experience as hypnotherapists and using nationally recognised good quality health education material, such as that provided by the NHS (UK). Information contained on our site does not constitute medical advice and is not intended to replace medical advice. You should speak to your doctor about any health concerns that you have and before making any radical changes to your lifestyle and health and fitness goals, including your quest to reach those goals.
