Gabriel Olsen/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — With spring underway, many students and parents are facing the pressures of prom season.
Actress Kyle Richards, a star of Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, has four daughters, and has gone through prom season before as a parent, and will go through it again. She recently spoke with ABC News, offering advice on handling the pressures of prom and what parents can do to stay calm and ensure their teens have memorable experiences.
Richards says it is important to recognize that the nerves teens experience ahead of and during prom season are entirely normal. Teens have a lot to think about, such as what they should wear, what to do after prom, and whether or not they will be asked out. Richards tells ABC News, instead of thinking about the unknown, teens should take steps to make themselves feel their best even if things do not go according to plan.
“You want to look beautiful and elegant. You don’t want to look back and be like, ‘What was I thinking?'” Richards told her daughter when she was picking out her prom outfit. Richards recommends whatever outfit feels best for that person, but they should take their time considering what they want to wear.
Richards says employing good skin care practices is another way to boost confidence ahead of prom:
“You’ve got to keep your regimen going because otherwise if it gets out of control, you know what’s going to happen and it’s going to affect how you feel.”
She advises cleaning and treating skin weeks in advance, rather than in the final days leading up to prom, recommending teens try products like Clearasil.
When it comes to actually going, teens may feel the reservations of not attending prom if they do not have a date.
“If you’re not asked, get your girlfriends and go,” Richards told her daughter ahead of one of her school dances. That was exactly what her daughter did, instead of bringing a date, she and her best friend planned to go together, and Richards says there is no shame in doing that.
A date is not required, but Richards believes teens should know it is helpful to have a friend or two to go with for support.
For parents, Richards recommends keeping an open line of communication with their children, which is something she tries to establish with each one of her daughters. She believes it gave her children the opportunity to open up about their fears early and often so that they could be addressed ahead of prom night.
She concedes certain topics like drinking or sex are not the easiest to bring up in conversation, and sometimes kids do not want to talk about them. Richards offered a helpful strategy for opening up those tough discussions though:
“I like to have some conversations while I’m driving because then I can keep my eyes on the road… if it’s something embarrassing to talk about.”
Richards also recommended teens and parents could help each other by avoiding one thing in particular: social media.
“One of the things that tortures me as a parent right now–I feel like what we’re seeing on social media and with a lot of these celebrities is everybody has ‘facetuned’ themselves so much and [with] all of these [camera] filters, you’re presenting a fake version of yourself… it’s getting to the point where people are getting such unrealistic expectations. You don’t look good unless you have a Snapchat filter on? What’s the bar?”
Richards’ generally recommends teens should do what makes them feel like their best selves, and it is important for parents to support that. She is not condemning social media in all of its forms, but is highlighting some of the dangers of it, and believes it is especially important to not focus on the things other people and classmates are doing.
It is also a topic parents can bring up with young teens:
“My girls, we talk about that a lot… representing a real or fake version of yourself… I’d rather they say that’s not the best picture than one that looks nothing like the person I thought they were… just having the confidence to not need to do that.”
Copyright © 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.