By Savvy Auntie Writers

The holiday season is the perfect time to encourage our teenage nieces and nephews to help people they don’t know - and it's for selfish reasons. Sort of.

Turns out, when teenagers help strangers, like volunteering in a soup kitchen, offering to shovel a driveway for a neighbor, or singing carols at the senior home, researchers found long term benefits for the teens. The prosocial behavior of helping, sharing and comforting can lead to higher self-esteem in these adolescents even a year later.

Adolescence can be a challenging and confusing time for many teens. Prosocial activity, the researchers at Brigham Young University's School of Family Life found, can help our nieces and nephews “find confidence, self-respect and self-worth can be of monumental importance.” And while it’s wonderful for teens to help their elderly or ill family members and friends, prosocial efforts with strangers is what really help kids feel good about themselves in the long run.

"It is best if teens can directly see the benefit of their help on others,” says professor Laura Padilla-Walker, coauthor of the study. “This can increase gratitude in young people and help them to focus less on their own problems. It is also a way to help them meet new friends or spend time with family. A family tradition of helping those who are less fortunate throughout the year or during the holidays is a great way to instill in children a desire to serve and a greater sense of self-worth."

This sounds like a great tradition for we BenevolAunties to initiate this year with our teen nieces and nephews. Let us know how you decide to give back on Twitter and Instagram with #SavvyAuntie – and tag @SavvyAuntie too!

 

Brigham Young University. (2017, December 18). Teens who help strangers have more confidence: Get your kids involved in service to strangers in this season of giving, researchers suggest. ScienceDaily. Retrieved December 18, 2017.

Photo: Dolgachov