Promoting family resilience

How families can promote the well-being of teenagers

Henka Team

During adolescence, as throughout childhood, the family plays a fundamental role in promoting emotional well-being . Although young people distance themselves from their parents as part of their identity formation process , they need their adult role models to be there for them so they can turn to them when they need to.

The family, therefore, plays a crucial role as a safe environment where we can foster the social-emotional skills that help adolescents cope with problems, relate healthily, and manage their emotions . Resilient parenting has been shown to promote recovery from painful experiences through social-emotional learning. When adolescents feel their family provides support and refuge, the family context is perceived as a safe space. This sense of emotional and relational security is key to achieving their full potential for healthy development, as well as to asking for help when they need it. For this reason, it will be crucial to provide families with expert guidance, advice, and support so they can acquire the tools to foster resilience in their adolescent children.

What is family resilience?

Family resilience is defined as the capacity of a family to cope with difficult or crisis situations and emerge stronger. Among the factors that contribute to a resilient family, parenting skills are among the most important.

Family resilience is the ability of a family to cope with difficult or crisis situations, resulting in a feeling of being strengthened.

Parenting skills are those abilities and skills that parents have to protect and meet the needs of their children, including the needs for affection, stimulation and socialization, for their healthy and resilient development.

Family relationships and bonds must provide a framework for healthy development, protection, and the promotion of life skills, and are a powerful factor in the development of resilient minds. International experts emphasize the importance of parental presence, such as when children feel seen, safe, comforted, and secure . Being emotionally present shapes children's brains and influences the people they will become.

Parental support in raising children is not about protecting them from harm and rescuing them from difficulties, but about teaching them to use skills to maintain good emotional health.

Parental involvement in raising children is not about shielding them from harm and rescuing them from difficulties. In fact, this overprotection is counterproductive, as it doesn't help them develop the skills necessary for maintaining good emotional health. It's about teaching them how to use those skills and encouraging them to hone them. This will allow them to thrive on their own, learn from inevitable setbacks, and move forward.

To achieve all of this, it's important to help teenagers understand that they won't always succeed in what they want, that they will sometimes make mistakes, but that the greatest accomplishment is continuing to strive for what they desire. And that all of this involves managing the emotions it generates, learning from mistakes, and tolerating the frustrations that are a part of life.

Parents need to let their children make their own decisions, even if they seem wrong to us, and support them when they make mistakes so they can learn to make better choices in the future. We could talk about a broad approach to support, being present and available, offering emotional validation, encouraging them as they face new milestones and challenges, and providing guidance and direction. This is what we call resilient parenting. For this reason, it's important to educate families on how to practice resilient parenting .