In a world of social media and wanting to please friends, many children are spending hours reading, commenting and liking every entry on Instagram, Snapchat, Whatsapp, I-messenger etc. It is a time consuming activity which can take hours away from other things they could be doing. It is also not healthy to be engaged in every single post, comment or picture displayed. However, many children feel they need to social media like. They do it so their ‘friends’ will like them more and it will make their ‘friends’ happy. In fact you could say that they are ‘people pleasing’. This is one thing we teach our children not to do. Friends will like them even if they never comment on something they posted on social media. The exception is when the message is directly aimed at them and then they definitely should respond or comment.
Good Self-esteem And Less Social Media Like
There needs to be less pressure on children to not have to behave in this way and just ‘like’ and comment when and where they want to. It is not important to ‘like’ everything posted on social media. If their friends notice that they are ‘liking’ less then maybe they could explain that they don’t have time or that they never saw what they posted. Feeling the need to comment on everything is a sign of low self-esteem. By using self-esteem boosting strategies the child should feel less inclined to make others like them. After all, they like and accept who they are.
There are lots of self-esteem boosting activities in The Parents Toolkit that are easy to use and could help your child. Social media can be a minefield for children, so as parents we need to give them the tools & life skills they need to deal with the pitfalls.
