I have mixed feelings. My daughter has always embraced “being different”, sometimes to the extreme, and I think that’s part of the problem. She wants so badly to reject negative stereotypes about teenage girls - that they’re shallow, appearance-obsessed, boy-crazy. She’s so busy trying to set herself apart it makes it hard to make friend…
I have mixed feelings. My daughter has always embraced “being different”, sometimes to the extreme, and I think that’s part of the problem. She wants so badly to reject negative stereotypes about teenage girls - that they’re shallow, appearance-obsessed, boy-crazy. She’s so busy trying to set herself apart it makes it hard to make friends. I think tumblr was the only place she felt she could fit in, but then it required her to pay a terrible price. Sometimes I wish she’d stop trying so hard to be different and just let herself be a regular teenage girl. Still herself, of course, but not trying so hard to be seen as “different”
I totally agree on forgiving themselves and accepting that everyone makes mistakes.
Have you considered getting her involved in outdoor activities? Rock-climbing, Kayaking, hiking, gardening, anything like that? I went on Outward Bound in High School and was an outdoor adventure guide in WV in undergrad. I met all kinds of really fun people in that world that could never be accused of being superficial. To this day I find my center being out in nature. I notice with my own kids that when we go hiking, snorkeling, fishing, drone flying, paddleboarding or kayaking as a family it recenters them and calms them (all of us really). Especially during Covid insanity, as we got further from the city, we could feel their spirits lift and watch their hearts heal. I don't know if it would work for your family, but for mine I find sometimes we want talk alone to fill the voids that only nature and experiences are capable of healing.
I’ve tried. We did spend a summer vacation outdoors doing a lot of hiking and other outside activities, but she needs so much more help than that can provide. She needs a healthy community of peers that she can belong to and that she believes will accept her and those are in short supply
I have mixed feelings. My daughter has always embraced “being different”, sometimes to the extreme, and I think that’s part of the problem. She wants so badly to reject negative stereotypes about teenage girls - that they’re shallow, appearance-obsessed, boy-crazy. She’s so busy trying to set herself apart it makes it hard to make friends. I think tumblr was the only place she felt she could fit in, but then it required her to pay a terrible price. Sometimes I wish she’d stop trying so hard to be different and just let herself be a regular teenage girl. Still herself, of course, but not trying so hard to be seen as “different”
I totally agree on forgiving themselves and accepting that everyone makes mistakes.
Have you considered getting her involved in outdoor activities? Rock-climbing, Kayaking, hiking, gardening, anything like that? I went on Outward Bound in High School and was an outdoor adventure guide in WV in undergrad. I met all kinds of really fun people in that world that could never be accused of being superficial. To this day I find my center being out in nature. I notice with my own kids that when we go hiking, snorkeling, fishing, drone flying, paddleboarding or kayaking as a family it recenters them and calms them (all of us really). Especially during Covid insanity, as we got further from the city, we could feel their spirits lift and watch their hearts heal. I don't know if it would work for your family, but for mine I find sometimes we want talk alone to fill the voids that only nature and experiences are capable of healing.
I’ve tried. We did spend a summer vacation outdoors doing a lot of hiking and other outside activities, but she needs so much more help than that can provide. She needs a healthy community of peers that she can belong to and that she believes will accept her and those are in short supply