Raising RESILIENT TEENS
HOW YOU CAN HELP BOOST YOUR CHILD’S ABILITY TO BOUNCE BACK
The ability to bounce back from disappointment is a skill that your child will benefit from through life. When you’re resilient, you can often learn from a difficult situation and keep on thriving.
Unfortunately, you can’t always stop your child from experiencing problems or going through tough times. But, you can play a bit role in how they cope with these moments.
“Anxiety levels amongst young people are at the highest
level they have been,” child psychologist and author Dr Michael Carr-greg recently told The Daily Telegraph. “Professor Harriet Hissock, from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, her research showed teenagers are being diagnosed with mental health problems, such as anxiety, at an alarming rate. Young people aren’t learning how to be resilient.”
The Australian Government’s parenting website Raising Children recommends these steps for helping your teenager become more resilient.
LOOK FOR THE SILVER LINING
According to the website, resilience is “about being realistic, thinking rationally, looking on the bright side” and finding the positive, even when things are bad.
KEEP THINGS IN PERSPECTIVE
While your teen might feel like it’s the end of the world because they weren’t invited to the latest party, remind then to keep things in perspective by focusing on facts and reality. Ask them: “Does this really matter as much as you think? On a scale from one to 10, how bad is it, really?”
REMEMBER THE GOOD TIMES
Having something terrible happen doesn’t mean that life is terrible. Remind your teenager that getting a poor test mark for example, is just one aspect of their life – it won’t stop them from going out with their friends on the weekend.
SHARE EXAMPLES
Talk to your teenager about
other people you know who have gone through tough times, and how they overcame them. Your teen is more likely to feel positive if she can see that hard times are just part of life and thing will get better.
TURN THAT FROWN UPSIDE DOWN
Look for simple strategies to boost your teens mood. These can include:
• Do things you enjoy or that help you relax, like watching a funny TV show or reading a good book.
• Spend time with friends or support people.
• Do something kind for someone else – for example, carrying the grocery shopping in from the car.
• Look for the positive or funny side of a difficult situation. For example, a sprained ankle might mean missing sport on the weekend, but it gives you the chance to binge-watch your favourite TV series.
• Do some physical activity, like playing sport or going for a vigorous walk.
• Go over some good memories by looking through photographs.