Childhood Nicknames Can Stick
“Daddy’s princess,” “Little Man,” “Gordo,” “Skinny Minnie,” these nicknames are in their own way endearing, but at some point when your toddler matures, develops their self-consciousness, and begins to take on the prejudices of society; gordo is going to mean fat.
Once gordo is no longer endearing, your teen will start to think about what their nickname means in terms of who they are. In this self-discovery, they may take on the identity of a fat person. This is when the nickname starts to stick. The baggage of that nickname can change the potential of your teen because they take on the nickname’s stereotype.
As teens start to develop their own identity rather than that thrust upon them, they internalize how other’s view them especially those in their immediate circle: immediate family, extended family, teachers, peers, etc. Unless your teen has another voice to counter the negative perspectives, they take on the identity of the negative nickname. Once they do that, they will take over as the negative voice, continue the negative thoughts that support poor self esteem and poor self-confidence.
People with poor self-esteem and poor self-confidence have a difficult time advocating for themselves. They are agreeable because they don’t want to stand out too much. They are concerned about criticism the attention might bring if they were to say something. Anything. These teens might settle because they don’t know they deserve anything better. They want people to like them so they choose their words wisely so as not to upset people. This is especially true if this is the way they were treated at home.
Nicknames are endearing terms that at some point may need to be tucked away with childhood. It gives the teen an opportunity to develop their own identity rather than conform to the identity thrust upon them.
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In Guyana, people are actually called well into their twilight years by the names given to them as infants. It is called their “call names.” So you will meet people named “Bravey boy” or “Fat man” or “Redman.”