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 child about being a teenager? Sharing your own experiences, words of wisdom, and encouragement can help you empathize 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 shouldn’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.

Our skin can have a real effect on our confidence – especially for young people with skin conditions. We believe no young person should be held back from reaching their full potential – that’s why we’ve partnered with the Women’s Dermatologic Society to help boost self-esteem. Through our partnership, we aim to encourage skin positivity and help young people to see that beauty goes beyond skin-deep – here’s how.

Low self-esteem and body confidence are two issues that affect young people everywhere. The Dove Self-Esteem Project has a long-standing partnership with the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) to reach young girls all around the world and change the way they see themselves.

Working with experts qualified in the fields of psychology and sociology is an important part of making real change for real people – which is why we work with experts in the field, on everything we do, from creating our biggest projects to writing our latest articles. Here are some of the expert partners who help us to build self-esteem boosting programmes and projects.