How to Build Confidence in Teens: Self-Talk, Courage, Risk-Taking & Resilience
What does real self-confidence look like in a teenager—and can it actually be taught?
In this episode of NET Collective, Kay McBrearty and Vinita Patel sit down with Leslie Randolph, self-confidence coach for teen girls, TEDx speaker, and host of the Why Didn’t They Tell Us? podcast, for a powerful conversation about how confidence develops, what quietly chips away at it, and what parents can do to help teens strengthen it.
Together, they explore the connection between teen confidence, anxiety, perfectionism, social media, negative self-talk, fear of failure, and risk-taking—and why a teenager can appear confident on the outside while struggling very differently on the inside.
Leslie also challenges the idea that confidence means being fearless, outgoing, or certain of yourself. Instead, she offers a very different way of thinking about what it means to become confident—and why some of the experiences parents instinctively want to protect their children from may actually be essential to building it.
This conversation is filled with practical insight for parents, teens, young adults, and anyone who has ever allowed fear, doubt, or perfectionism to hold them back.
If you want to help a young person believe in themselves, take healthy risks, and trust that they can handle what comes next, this is an episode you won’t want to miss.
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