3 Keys to Confident Teen Girls

Self-esteem, confidence, or whatever term you want to use...most of us want our teenagers to have it. 

Confidence can help them resist negative peer pressure, become leaders, and create overall positive momentum towards their future. It's important for anything and everything, and it applies to anything and everything from choosing electives to choosing a swimsuit. 

Here are three keys to helping your tween or teen feel more confident:

• Autonomy. This one can be a bit of a tightrope walk because we know their brains are not fully formed in the decision-making and risk assessment areas. However, letting them make their own choices (and mistakes!) is really the only way they will ever become confident making choices. 

         A couple of tips that will help:

1. Give them guardrails.  Use natural limitations like budget, time, or resources. For example, when it comes to swimsuit shopping, let them choose style and color, but limit it to designs you know will be comfortable and confident. (Hint, hint: Water Slide Swim!)
2. Talk about Values and Goals. Tweens and teens aren't always great about looking to the long run. Keep it at the top of their mind by asking where they want to go and what is important to them. 

• Competency. This probably isn't surprising (I founded a swimsuit company!), but it was really important to me that my kids learned to swim so I had them in lessons early in their life. Now my kids are confident swimmers. When we teach our kids skills, we give them the tools they need for confidence. The only big tip for this is that doing something with them will be way more effective then telling them how to do something!

• Security. Teens and tweens need to know they are loved and celebrated. This can be hard because they are naturally pulling away at this age, but knowing you have a strong network of supportive people behind you is key to developing confidence in adolescents. When you see it, say it. Notice all the things they are getting right and say it often. 

Water Slide Swim may be just a swim company, but we firmly believe in growing confidence in young women. Can swimsuits do that? Yes, they can help! Letting your young tween pick her own swimsuit can be a low stakes way to help her make confident decisions. Head over to Water Slide Swim and start shopping!