Expert resources for parents and mentors to help raise young people's self-esteem

Life can feel lonely for teenagers. Have you considered writing a message of support to your son or daughter about being a teenager? Sharing your own experiences, words of wisdom and encouragement can help you empathise with them and improve your conversations.

Communicating with teens about the problems they're facing can be difficult – it’s all too easy to say, “You’ll get over it.” But being dismissive can discourage them from expressing their feelings.

Communicating with your child should be easy. But miscommunication is easier. You make a simple comment about what they’re wearing and they storm off, slamming the door. You ask what they had for lunch and they assume it’s an attack about their diet. While you’re just trying to show how much you care about them, their reactions suggest you’re speaking a different language. 

You may never have been a girl yourself, but that needn’t be a barrier to father daughter bonding. You want your daughter to grow into a self-confident young woman – and she’s going to need her dad on her side.

Convincing kids that it's worth devoting time and effort to schoolwork can be a major source of tension. Here, a mother, Jennifer, and her daughters, Emily and Samantha*, give their views on a typical mother-daughter struggle over homework – showing how understanding other people’s points of view in family disputes can reduce anger and upset on all sides.

As a parent, it’s natural to want the best for your child – for them to be happy, healthy and confident individuals. 

But that’s sometimes easier said than done, especially during the teen and pre-teen years when their bodies are changing, their self-confidence is fragile and they are trying to make that tricky transition out of childhood. 

It's a shocking fact that eight out of 10 girls are so concerned about body image that they opt out of important life activities. 

Bullying is a horrible fact of life and can affect us at any age. If your child is being bullied, use our action checklist to help them understand why it’s happening and how they can beat it.

In today's digital age, image plays a more prominent part in young people's lives than in previous generations. In a world of selfies and social media, ever-present camera-phones and easy-to-use editing software, it's hardly surprising that appearance is particularly important to them.