Can My Child or Teen Use Mindfulness to Deal with Low Self-Esteem?

Children and teens can harbor negative thoughts about themselves that lead to low self-esteem. In this video, psychotherapist Gina Biegel talks about how kids can use mindfulness to stop beating themselves up and increase their self-confidence.

Transcript

00:00

Children and teens aren't necessarily very kind

00:06

to themselves-- particularly teens. I think children are still at a level where they aren't as judgmental of themselves

00:14

and of their experiences. And I think as you get a little bit older, everything becomes a balance of, is this good, is this bad,

00:21

is this right or it's wrong? And our brain kind of categorizes things, which makes it easier to be judgmental.

00:28

And so I think when you look at mindfulness, it gives you that moment, that pause of noticing where your mind goes so maybe you can kind of break

00:35

some of that cycle of automatically judging and to start even noticing one good quality about themselves

00:42

or one thing they're proud of and-- or not starting to compare themselves to a standard that are unrealistic expectations