Reply to Looking for Advice on Building Empathy and Kindness in a Teen

Forum Index » Tweens and Teens

Reply to "Looking for Advice on Building Empathy and Kindness in a Teen"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]I’m noticing some things in my 13 year old daughter that concern me, and I’m wondering if others have navigated this successfully.

To be clear, I have no indication that she is a “mean girl,” but from things I’ve seen and read, I don’t think she is always as empathetic, thoughtful, or caring a friend as I would hope. She can be very focused on status, appearance, fitting in, and herself in a way that feels somewhat developmentally normal, but I also do not want to ignore it.

I also recognize my own role in this. She is a really hard working, conscientious kid with good grades, strong commitment to her club sport, and she is generally helpful when asked. Because of that, it has been easy for me to reward her with the latest clothes, accessories, and other material things she wants. I am starting to wonder whether I have unintentionally overemphasized achievement, status, and rewards and not enough kindness, perspective taking, or generosity.

I would love advice from parents who have successfully course corrected at this age. What actually helped build empathy, humility, gratitude, and genuine kindness in your tweens or teens? Especially for kids who are high achieving and socially aware but maybe becoming a little too invested in appearances or themselves.

I am hoping to use the summer intentionally and would really appreciate ideas, experiences, or even book or podcast recommendations.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics