I was helping prepare a 16 year old boy for an interview at a smoothie bar franchise, and told him to tuck in his shirt, as the employees would have tucked in shirts, and he should aim to reflect other people that were hired there. He however was convinced this sort of thing doesn't matter. My analysis of his response was: it does not matter to him if the shirt is not tucked in, therefore it will not matter to the hiring manager. This is what TRP jargon refers to as solipsism.

After realizing this was driven by solipsism, other decisions of his made more sense through the same reasoning. Thinking of myself at that age, I had similar thoughts, but I don't remember to what extent. I think it's natural for children to begin in a state of solipsism and then grow out of it. What I am unsure about is when a boy should begin overcoming this sort of thinking, and how affected he should be by it at this age.

Does anyone with teenagers have experience with boys growing out of solipsism?