Monday 30 May 2011

All about Popularity

Popularity during teenage years is one of the most important things for young teens.   Everybody is worried about the same thing: How popular am I? How many friends do I have? Am I looking “cool”? Are my friends "cool" enough? Our son is in grade 6 and he is already talking about who is more popular than others at his school and who is the less popular than others.

Popularity is a time when young boys and girls are conscious about just about everything.  Many children secretly love being the center of attraction but fail to do so; therefore, they start feeling low and their confidence level sinks. This is the time when children also become particular about their looks and the clothes they wear.  I have noticed our son started to even put gel in his hair every morning recently.  

I try to tell our son the definition of being popular is to be liked and adored by the majority of people, however, that doesn’t mean he or she is necessarily academically smart.  There are plenty of unpopular teenagers and some are socioeconomically successful much to the chagrin of their more popular friends.
My advice for those unpopular kids is DO NOT get stressed out if you are not popular. You are who you are and nothing can change it. That’s life. Be happy and do not be obsessed with who you want to be.