Your Child’s Physical Hygiene Affects his Self-Image

Biology and genes can make growing up a challenge – if bad eyesight runs in the family, your child may need to wear corrective eyewear; if he inherited genes that cause teeth to be crooked, he may have to endure a few months of wearing braces; and if obesity runs in the family, well, he may be prone to it, too. Teen years become an awkward time of transformation as skin breaks out in acne, hair grows in all the wrong places and voices become characteristically dissonant. For children and teenagers, this is a challenging period, especially since as your child develops, he or she will start becoming more aware of his or her appearance.

It doesn’t help that their fellows can be callous and insensitive to their plight and the schoolyard can be a tough place to adapt to. Teasing and bullying are the inevitable consequence of children who possess unpalatable traits, unusual features or anything that sets them apart.    

This is why parents should realize that it’s vital that they help their children deal with these situations in the right way. A child who looks good and feels good about the way she looks will have solid self-esteem and confidence. Here are some of the problems that can plague a child’s appearance as he grows up, and advice on how to help deal with them:

(Related story: Bully-proof your Child!)