Your judgments of others are often inaccurate.
It is so simple for our teens to jump to conclusions about things.
I remember my daughter coming home one day and telling me she needs to change her Social Studies class because everyone said the teacher is horrible and does not teach.
Of course I told her, that is not going to happen and she needs to learn to navigate the class regardless. I told her you are smart and will figure it out. Turns out this teacher became one of her favorites and ended up writing her a referral letter for college.
Imagine if I gave in to her quick judgment based on hearsay!
Teens are very much impacted by the views of others and when others judge, they accept this judgment and act accordingly. In some cases these judgements may be correct and the action they take serves them in a positive way, but in many cases they are misjudging the person or the situation and the action they take only hurts them, and does not serve them.
Even as adults, we judge others when they have a view that differs from ours. Many times we assume because they disagree with our view, they must be extreme in theirs. Are we maybe extreme in ours?
Regardless, a persons view does not define who they are, it just defines their choice around a particular person, situation or topic.
We must now, more than ever teach our teens to accept others for who they are and their beliefs. We must teach them to not judge without truly having enough information to make a fair an accurate judgment.
Accepting others views does not mean you agree, it just means you respect them as a fellow human being regardless of what they believe. We need to teach our teens to be open minded and learn to have healthy conversations with one another without judgment. This allows for personal growth and mutual respect.
It is hard navigating school and a social life in the teen years, but if we can teach them to not judge others and develop their own conclusions and act on those, rather than the views of others, they will become more confident adults and learn how to lead.
Most important, they will learn how to not self judge, and that is truly an empowered mindset to operate from.
CREDIT TO MARK CHERNOFF FOR THESE LESSONS – marcandangel.com