Gossip and teasing in teenagers, how to prevent them
Adolescence is a very hard stage for young people and involves facing a moment in which most want to feel embedded with the rest. For this, it sometimes falls into the practice of activities with very negative consequences, not only the consumption of alcohol and tobacco. The desire to be part of a group leads many to become the executioners of cases of bullying.
Harassment does not only consist in physically attacking the victim, other forms of bullying like for example that one that consists in making fun of the companions. In this sense, gossip represents a very repeated trend among young people who comment on others, an activity that can be prevented from home from education.
Talk and gossip
From the foundation Nemours they warn that you have to know where the limit between gossip and talking is. That adolescents talk about their day to day is good, every young person should feel that at home they can share what happens to them and make their family share what happens in their environment. An example is that for example the adolescent relates a school day in which a classmate did something like suspend an exam.
The specialists of this center emphasize that the limit It would be that the teenager made fun of this situation. To comment on this event as a joke about the poor intellectual capacity of his friend. Speaking is a way of expressing thoughts, feelings, experiences and ideas to the people around us, gossip and joke is a behavior that is not desirable at all.
Tell these things with bad intention it is a form of bullying that can spread and get worse. When detecting this tone, parents should reprimand this behavior in their children and remember that mockery is something very ugly. To illustrate this situation, nothing better than to put them in the same situation and ask how they would feel if they suddenly discovered that their colleagues are talking behind their backs and with the intention of looking for the easy joke.
A good way to detect gossip in adolescents is to monitor their activity in social networks and check if these platforms appear publications in order to make fun of their colleagues or is participating in the spread of false rumors. In this situation it is best to prohibit the use of these websites as punishment and teaching so that the young person learns to use these tools correctly.
Avoid gossip
To prevent gossip and its possible negative effects, nothing better than reinforcing the child's social skills. Here are some guidelines to educate in this regard:
1. Positive reinforcement The idea that your child has about himself is based on the idea that you have of him and the value you give to his actions and achievements. It is important that you reinforce the positive, that you recognize their achievements and thus increase their self-esteem.
2. Be a good model. Every parent is the reference of your child, therefore, the relationships you establish and the way you care for these relationships will be for him a mirror in which to look and an example of how to relate.
3. Learn to negotiate. It is necessary that you negotiate with your child, as long as he does not usually get what he wants and does it through reactions such as tantrum or complaint. It is important that you learn to argue and be able to assess different possibilities, although you always have to keep in mind that there are moments that require you to stay firm in a decision.
4. It fosters responsibility. Knowing the consequences of their actions and being responsible with them is part of your child's learning. For that reason, sometimes, the most appropriate thing is that you teach him the effect that his actions have on others and at the same time be able to empathize, to put himself in the place of the other.
5. Teach the value of respect. If your son always has the last word he will not learn to respect others. You must learn that sometimes you can choose and, at other times, you have to respect what others choose, showing respect for the tastes and opinions of the rest.
Damián Montero
