Experience in Socialising Counts

This is the next article in our series for teens on how to approach the dating game. Here we discuss how Experience in Socialising Counts. It helps teens to be able to overcome their nervousness.

The young guy or girl who has belonged to social groups since they were a child slips into dating situations more easily during adolescence than does the youngster who was not socially active as a child. Why? Because he or she has developed social skills that the less experienced youngster has yet to learn.

He knows how to carry on a conversation, how to handle an introduction, how to dance, how to eat properly, how to accept and to refuse an invitation. All these and many other social skills are learned in action with other people.

Some boys and girls pick up the normal courtesies and social behaviours as a matter of course during their childhood. They are fortunate—and don’t suffer the embarrassment that confronts teenagers who have not had such opportunities.

The young person with limited social experience must tackle the tasks of becoming socially comfortable with other people in a variety of situations as he approaches dating age. This is not always easy, but it must be done before he can feel at ease in dating situations.

It’s Up to You

Occasionally one finds a young person who bitterly blames his lack of social success on his background. He feels that because he grew up on the wrong side of the tracks or in a lower-income family, he is behind the eight ball. This kind of attitude is self-defeating and unfortunate. It’s not confined to teenagers either, but is common among those of every age who waste energy complaining about their lack of advantages, rather than using it to improve their lot.

A Fine Example

Vernon is the kind of guy who might have been licked by his background. His family lived in a shabby house in the poorest part of town. His father was hardly the kind of man of whom any boy could be proud, and his mother was little better. Vernon never was allowed to invite friends to his home, and he had to forego belonging to clubs and organisations in order to work and help support his family.

But Vernon wouldn’t let circumstances defeat him. He had a happy spirit and wit and his talent for telling a good story. It took him into many a group as he became older. He had sympathy for the underdog and concern for the underprivileged. Both of these won him a place in one after another project from grammar school onward. Like many of the world’s great men, he made stumbling blocks into stepping stones and rose above his handicaps.

The Answer is Within

Any young individual has the answer to his social problems within himself. When he really wants to, he or she can grow in their ability to win friends and acceptance. Often the individual who has to forge a place for himself develops a special charm that more privileged individuals lack. A person’s true individuality is his own to develop—in his own way and at his own pace throughout life.

~.* ♥ *.~

The first novel in our series of seven is now published, and is a courageous story of a young teen growing up in a home filled with domestic violence, and how she manoeuvres her way through such a difficult situation. Click here if you’d like to know more about this novel.

Click here if you’d like to be taken to the site where you can purchase this novel.