Making a child feel loved and developing the practice of self-love and doing simple positive affirmations such as ‘I am loved, safe and supported’, can be a brilliant tool to positively program their subconscious mind.
By Tiesta Duggal
As the psychology and physiology of a teen starts changing, they may experience issues like stress and emotional turbulence. It is important to set the foundation right as this is when the subconscious is being programmed and belief systems are developing.
Here are some tips for parents to manage this phase better:
Compassion
Teenagers experience a surge of hormonal changes and there may be various behavioural changes like irritability, anger, sorrow, laziness and need for isolation at times. This calls for parents to be loving, understanding, caring and supportive but it is also important to know when to give them space. This helps the teenager develop a sense of comfort and trust.
Assertive communication
As your teenager exhibits these changes it can be great to have a conversation with them about what to expect in this phase of life, the rights and wrongs, how to manage pressure, how you understand them and are available to support them with any issues that they are dealing with. Also, it is important to have a discussion with them about concerns like peer pressures, bullying or any form of abuse and make them feel secure and approachable to report to you in case of any such incident. Such incidents can have a lasting impact on the psychology of the teenager and if dealt in the right manner can help them feel more secure about life.
Positive environment
When teenagers perceive all their small and big challenges as threats, it is essential to maintain a positive environment at home where they feel secure seeing their parents happy, gratitude being practiced, positive words and language being used around them. As children learn more from observation than what is thought to them, this helps a great deal in shaping a positive belief system.
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Deep breathing and physical activity
Inculcating a practice of taking eight to 10 deep breaths five times a day, teaching them simple meditation techniques and including a physical activity such as cycling, swimming, yoga or even a dance class can be great ways to release stress and channelise their energy as these help in releasing positive hormones such as serotonin and endorphins. This can provide as a lifelong tool for them to manage stress.
Self-love and affirmations
Due to changes in hormones, there are also various changes in the appearance of a teenager which starts to shake their confidence. Making a child feel loved and developing the practice of self-love and doing simple positive affirmations such as ‘I am loved, safe and supported’, ‘I love and accept myself’, ‘I am an achiever’, ‘Life works well for me’, etc, can be a brilliant tool to positively program their subconscious mind.
Providing a teenager the right guidance, love and security can be the best gift a parent can give them in life.
(The writer is an internationally-certified workshop leader, a certified life coach and healer/therapist.)
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