How to Encourage Young Teenage Students to Dress Modestly

Peer pressure strongly affects the choices of young adults. In order to change the way teenagers dress, you must address their desire to fit in and help them see their worth as individuals. Showing students the effect that appearance plays in people's lives is a good way to encourage students to dress modestly.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

1. Become a person your students respect and feel comfortable around. Really listen when a student speaks, look him in the eye and show him you care. Your opinion and voice don't matter until they know you care.
2. Set an example of modesty in your wardrobe to demonstrate that one can be hip and cool without showing all the goods.
3. Compliment your students when they dress modestly. Stay away from negative comments when they dress improperly. Reward appropriate choices with praise and smiles. Positive affirmation can be life changing for students who are at risk or come from difficult situations. Parents may not be willing to address the issue with them or see it as an issue at all.
4. Warn students of the risk or even danger of miscommunication by how they present themselves through words, body language and dress. Create a presentation showing pictures of people from many different backgrounds, cultures and life circumstances. Ask the students to express their general "impressions" of the people. This is a good way to get the students thinking about how others view them and what image they're presenting to the world.
5. Work with the female and male students separately. Getting the sexes split up takes a lot of the hormonal pressure off. Girls can just be girls and boys can just be boys. This is especially good for mentoring relationships. Talk about body image, self-worth and expectations with your students.
6. Remember you're in a position to bring positive change, but it will take time. If your students knew differently and had role models who were willing to help them dress modestly, they'd already be doing it. Keep in mind this is news to them and it'll take time to sink in.

Tips & Warnings

• Work further on the exercise from Step 4 as you see fit. Use celebrity examples of people through their different seasons of life (for example, Angelina Jolie) to show how clothes and presentation affect the way people view others.