Feeling Lost? Supporting Teens with Self-Esteem & Wellbeing

[MermaidCrab]

Hey,

As a parent, I know how tough it can be to navigate the teenage years! My teen (and I'm sure some of yours too!) is up and down with things like wellbeing, body image, self-doubt, and self-acceptance.

I feel like I'm constantly searching for ways to help but sometimes it feels overwhelming. Maybe you can relate?

As a parent, what are your biggest challenges supporting your teens with body image, self-acceptance, mental health and wellbeing? How do you cope? How do you support them / are there any solutions that work or would work?

[FunScroller]

Hi @MermaidCrab

I really relate to this - my teen (13) struggles with self confidence, and even though it's something that isn't too overwhelming at the moment, I really worry it's going to get worse as she gets older.

The biggest challenge I think is social media like tiktok (can't really stop her from using it because all her friends have accounts) - it's really negative with things like body image in particular and girls comparing themselves to each other. I think there's a lot of stuff about body weight and calorie counting on there which alarms me.

These are some of the ways I've been coping with this situation:

I NEVER talk negatively about my own body or anyone else's (even if I sometimes don't feel my best 😅) because even saying negative stuff in the background can be overheard and taken in by teens. It's sort of within our culture to dislike how we look, so I'm just trying in a small way to show that doesn't have to be the case.

I've seen a few accounts on social media which are great for body confidence (e.g. bodyimagepositive) - I don't recommend them in person because that might feel a bit out of the blue, but I sometimes send her pics because I think they look nice and she's followed a few accounts from that

I saw on a different thread of yours someone mention the luna app - that's one that my daughter doesn't have at the moment, but I think (looking at the reviews on the app store) would be something really great + helpful to try out, especially because it's a closed community so she won't be able to speak to strangers etc.

And then finally, my daughter gets quite excited about things like stationary and notebooks, so I've bought her a nice one where she can journal and write down things that are on her mind - this has always been something that's helped me, so hopefully will do the same for her.

Interested to hear if you've tried any of these/have any more thoughts - or any other suggestions that have helped out your teen too?

[SoLongFarewellBye]

DS 12 mostly struggles with his confidence in general. He’a always naturally been an anxious person. Even from the age of 5 he had quite a bit of agoraphobia due to ASD. So overtime I’ve found exposure therapy works little by little. Starting off small and then building up. He still does struggle with his social capabilities and also body confidence, and perhaps some of this will get worse as he gets older but we’re just tackling it bit by bit