Adolescent Experiences

An experience I had as a child that affected my self-esteem would be maturing and growing faster than the "other" kids. I was always taller than them and would get made fun for being "bigger, fatter or stupid" because they thought I was older and I flunked. When I moved to a new school in fourth grade I had braces, too. Everyone thought I was in the wrong class/grade. This hurt my feelings as well.

A supposed good thing about maturing faster was starting my period sooner, at the age of nine. I thought this was neat and I could be a grown up now. I figured I had a "one-up" on all those kids who had been making fun of me.

Another experience is having a sibling come along. When I was ten years old my mother and step-father had a baby boy. Now after ten years of being the only child and getting all the attention a baby is not really what I wanted. This took away al the positive remarks and when I would try to get attention by being around my brother "the new attraction" I would get negative feed-back instead, lowering my self-esteem. However, all through school and my life, basically, my mother encouraged me to be the best and she ensured me with positive reinforcement that I was important, smart and beautiful and all the things I could have. I was always extremely happy to get a good grade just to show her and maker her proud. I believe that is a huge self-esteem booster when someone you care about has faith and pride in you.