Teen Self Esteem and The Ugliness of Acne

Teen self esteem is critical during the teenage years when bullies and friends alike maliciously tease about all sorts of physical attributes, especially acne.

The teenage years are often a time of transition and many teens can find the mental and physical changes damaging to their self esteem. Make the effort to talk to your teen if you see him or her negatively impacted by having acne.

Just like our academic, artistic, and athletic abilities, our self esteem is an important part of who we are inside and needs to be watered with positive statements.

If acne is having a negative impact on your child, have a talk together first about how much you love and value your child.

Family Support is Necessary

Work on your teenager’s self esteem together with the rest of your family. It is crucial for teenagers to understand their support system, and often, a kind word from a family member can go a long ways to increasing teen self esteem levels.

Furthermore, inform your other children to work together as a family unit and form a support structure for each other instead of adding to the detrimental teasing and taunting.

Make time for just your teen in your life away from others in your family as well. This way, you are physically showing your teen that he or she is worth your time and effort, which will go a long way to further the battle of raising levels of self esteem.

Teen self esteem is greatly connected to certain physical attributes, especially mild to severe acne. Acne is a condition that is common in most teenagers due to the physical changes and imbalance of hormones in a teenager’s system.

Acne does not mean that a teen has poor hygiene or is plagued with some communicable disease, but typically, teens with acne are treated like outcasts.

Never use Acne as a Weapon to Hurt a Persons’ Feelings

Please please please – as a parent, do NOT ever make negative comments to your teens about their acne. Never use acne as a verbal weapon against your teen if you ever have disagreements. I can’t tell you how damaging this can be.

As a teen with severe acne, I hated when my mother lectured me on the foods I was eating, and other bad habits, and connected them back to my acne. I also hated having her bring in several “experts” to diagnose and treat my acne without my agreement.

It made me feel terrible, ugly, and useless. Having acne as a teen is such an embarrassing thing already. It just makes it worse if the family is critical about their looks.

See if your teen is willing to discuss his or her problems with acne.

If your teen is willing, work out a solution together to battle acne to stop the vicious cycle of low self esteem leading to withdrawal.

Make an appointment with a dermatologist or other expert of your choosing to speak with your teenager about his or her acne. Ensure your teen understands exactly what acne is and begin a treatment process to begin to fight the appearance of acne.

Furthermore, strive to make sure that your teen properly uses the medication or treatment prescribed by the skin doctor and make sure that he or she does not give up, since most treatments take anywhere from four to even twelve weeks to be completely success.

Have Ongoing Discussions about Self Esteem

After you have spoken with your teen about acne care, continue discussions on teen self esteem. Ensure your teenager knows the difference between inner beauty and outside appearance.

Everyone is beautiful in various ways. Be sure your teenager realizes that it is not the quality of their skin or their appearance that makes them a good person, but rather the qualities that lie within that create beauty.

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