Preteen Journaling for Improved Self Esteem

A pre-teen’s self-esteem is a reflection of their overall evaluation of their own worth and value. It’s that internal feeling that we all have and is the foundation of our self-confidence. Both our self-esteem and self-confidence can be seen by others through our behaviors like assertiveness, caution, procrastination and how we relate to the outside world, to mention a few. Parents who encourage their pre-teens to write in and maintain a journal about their life help children discover themselves and develop a good self-esteem.

Here’s how journaling will help your pre-teen’s self-esteem grow in positive ways.

Goal Setting, Achievements & Resolutions

Having a plan of direction or goals in life is one way to help build self-esteem. And writing those goals down in our journal helps us in two ways. The first and most obvious is that when we write things down we are more likely to remember them.

The second, which is connected to the first, is if we remember the direction we are going we are more likely to achieve what we plan to do. Pre-teens of parents who encourage their journaling will have more success and hence a better self-esteem. This fact is supported by educators and the medical profession alike.

Achievement is directly related to goal setting in that it’s the result of it. Moreover, when we achieve a goal we planned and wrote in our journal our satisfaction and happiness with ourselves will be much greater. We accomplish things every day, but those things we plan for become part of ourselves in a personal way and its reward is felt much deeper and then becomes the source of our self-esteem.

Nonetheless, parents must encourage their pre-teens to note all of their achievements, big and small, into their journal. Writing about our achievements in our journals is perhaps one of the most gratifying and uplifting things we can do. It’s more fun than writing about problems and helps maintain our self-esteem.

Sometimes we may find that we are not quite meeting the goals as we wrote them into our journals. Not reaching a goal that we planned to achieve can affect our self-esteem in a negative way because we might see ourselves as a failure. However, by reviewing past journal entries, we can evaluate our path and then make changes or resolutions that will help us get back on track toward our goals and revive our self-esteem. This becomes even more useful when those resolutions are noted in our journal.

We have seen some ways how journaling helps a pre-teen’s self-esteem. There are even more ways than what was discussed. What develops for the pre-teen as they live their life and write about it is a pattern of setting their sights on goals, moving toward those goals, modifying strategies, and finally the achievement of gaining what they want.

When your pre-teen is successful in any area of their life their self-esteem will become stronger with each accomplishment. As we have seen journaling is a means to helping your child become the person they and you want them to become.