Teach your teenager to set boundaries without feeling selfish.

As a teenager, you are going through two very paradoxical phases. One is that you are highly self-centred and can struggle to execute your empathy with others. On the other hand, you are also driven by the need to feel accepted socially and will do whatever it takes to belong to a group of friends or feel accepted by certain people. Interestingly, as humans we are seldomly given a lot of instruction or support learning to set our boundaries — in fact, most of us are encouraged not to. We have a word that is used to describe our giving and kind selves ­– compassionate. When we let people too close, our compassion withers along with our health, and that’s the sign to check in with our boundaries. A teenager also seeks to be social and why not? It’s a nice feeling to have a set of friends and spend time with them. They are in a time of identity formation, and it is imperative for them to have a boundary setting.

Don’t compromise on your integrity to lose your identity.

If young people permit family members, friends, or other adults to make them feel uncomfortable or unworthy, it is time to teach them how to construct boundaries that will help them feel better about themselves and more confident of their personality.

It’s not easy.