Give your child the gift of confidence this holiday season!
Kids are busy with school, finals, parties, recitals, and family gatherings. Parents are busy with all their kids’ activities, in addition to work parties, providing gifts and creating a festive home.
Teens can often feel overwhelmed by the holidays, yet they lack the life experience adults have to know that the season will pass. Coming out of the first semester, kids have been challenged, and can often feel anxious and stressed.
What can you do? Give them the greatest gift of all – confidence. How? Here are a few ideas:
Encourage your child to share their talents, hobbies, or personal interest with a relative or neighbor. In a non-competitive setting, teens can feel special and celebrated, and can talk about their experiences.
Ask your teen to help you set up the tree, arrange the lights, or find creative ways to decorate the house. Teens feel important when their opinion matters, and they often have creative ideas that adults may not have thought about. This teaches them to trust themselves and their ideas, as well as teamwork.
Give your teen a task that involves Independence like making a meal, selecting a dinner menu or going to the store for groceries. Giving teens independent living experiences helps them feel more confident about their future.
Involve your teens in a family meeting to plan and coordinate the holidays and winter break. Ask them what their ideas are for family activities as well as what their plans are with friends to enjoy their break. Teaching teens to plan ahead and set up gatherings will teach them confidence to reach out to friends and coordinate with others.
Create a family giving plan with your teen and research some organizations in your area that might need help. Reaching outside themselves and their world helps open their eyes to their community, ways to become involved, and the joy in helping others.
Most importantly, find little opportunities to compliment your teen on who they are and what they do well. Building confidence in your children is the greatest gift of all.
Photo by Melissa Faith Photography
