The majority of teenagers today struggle with low self-confidence levels due to a diverse range of factors like changing bodies, peer pressure, and success in academics and/or sports. It is wrong to blame the tweens for their low self-confidence, as the teenagers of today are confronted with many tough issues that include how they look, their behavior in public, their performance in school, and who they choose as friends. Talking to Tweens about Self Confidence If you notice that your tween’s self confidence is going downhill, then, as a parent, you should help your child to be as successful as possible, especially when it boils down to self-confidence. Every parent wants his child to grow into a confident and responsible adult who will excel in all departments of life. But that is easier said than done. Many tweens struggle hard to get accepted - by themselves and by the society in which they live. Parents do play a vital role in talking to tweens about building … [Read more...]

Talking to Tweens without Being Preachy? Raising kids is one of the most important and less envied tasks for any parent. They quickly change and grow in a short period of time and sometimes we, the parents, become exasperated to keep up with these changes. They become tweens in the blink of an eye. Are we ready for these sudden changes? Talking to Tweens without Being Preachy Your child might come home from school every day and blurts out everything that happened here but one fine day you saw that after his return he is not his usual self. Not anything scary but didn’t exactly behave the way he used to. You get tense and asked him all that happened in the school and probably even asked him, “Why are you not telling me like before?” and he replied coldly “I dunno.” The changes are sudden and will strike you like lightning. This is the time when you speak to your tween on various issues but never sound preachy otherwise he will lose interest and speak less with you. It … [Read more...]

The teenage years or the tween years are very important for any child, as this is the age when they learn to become decision-makers. We must understand that we are presented with choices every day, but the wisdom to choose correctly sets in from the tween years. As the kids mature over the years, so do the options open to them. They go past the stage when they need to choose between the different flavors of ice-creams; they now decide on the type of friends they want to have, which courses to take, and a lot of other good choices. The process of decision making is very crucial as the decisions taken by the children will dictate the path that their career or life will take. They need to judge the risks and rewards of the choices that they make in the short and long term. Talking to Tweens about Good Choices has never been more important than now! Why making a good choice is so difficult? Being a tween in today’s world is never easy. The advancements of technology mean that … [Read more...]

Talking to Tweens about Friendship? An important part of pre-teen and teen development is the process of finding new friends and relationships which are friendly. As a parent you should talk to your teen about how to become a good friend and the nuances of a healthy relationship. They should be able understand that friendship is a close connection with another person that helps one to feel valued and cared for. We do understand that an outgoing teenager can be friends with everyone and approaches every social situation with reasonable ease. But there are also awkward and insecure teenagers who have to struggle a lot to connect with people and becomes a bit withdrawn when a friendship crashes. Talking to Tweens about Friendship It does seem that children find it easy to make friends when they are young. This is because when kids are little the majority of the friendships are managed by adults. They do learn to play with peers in their childhood but developing independent and … [Read more...]