Resilience helps your children develop the ability to bounce back from difficult situations and prepares them for challenges they will face in life, like when - and when not to - use drugs and alcohol. Through evaluation, feedback and reflection, you can structure conversations to develop resilience in your children.

Help your kids to build self-efficacy (how you view and believe in your abilities) by structuring situations in ways that bring success. Avoid placing your child in situations where they are likely to fail often. But remember, they do need to experience some failures. If they experience only easy successes, they expect quick results and may become easily discouraged by failure.

Below are some conversations that build kids’ resilience.

Get Kids to Evaluate Their Own Experiences

Ask kids to evaluate their own experiences before giving them feedback. Kids can practice identifying what they did well, what kind of effort they put into a task, and what they learned.

Example:

Parent: How was school today?
Child: Okay, I guess. We’re doing track in gym class. Tryouts for the track meet are next week.
Parent: What events are you going to try out for?
Child: I don’t know. I like running but I don’t think I’m very fast.
Parent: Maybe you’d feel more sure of yourself in an event that doesn’t involve running fast.
Child: I could try, I guess. I’m good at throwing so I was thinking I could try for ball throw or shot put.
Parent: Sounds like you’ve got a few options and can try out for things you know you’re good at and things you’d like to be better at.
Child: Maybe I’ll try out for lots of things and see how it goes.

Share What You’ve Learned about Your Performance

Reinforce positive modelling, not only through your own behaviour, but by asking kids what they observed other children doing well. Also practice healthy self-reflection by sharing with kids what you liked about your own behaviour and what you might improve with practice or effort.

Example:

Parent: How’d the track meet tryout go?
Child: I made it into the 400 metre race and shot put! And, I’m doing long jump too. I don’t know how that happened since I stepped on the line a lot.
Parent: How’d your friends do?
Child: Great! Lisa’s in long jump too. She’s really good at it.
Parent: What do you think makes her able to jump so far?
Child: Well, it might be because she uses her arms and kind of claws at the air.
Parent: I used to like long jump too. And, like you, I used to step on the line too. I had to practice a lot to get really good at it though. My mom set up a long jump station in our backyard and my friends and I would challenge each other.
Child: Maybe we could do that in our yard.

Tell Them What They Can Do, Not What They Didn’t Do

Failure is an important aspect of learning, and improving at difficult tasks takes repeated practice. When giving feedback on areas that need to be addressed, tell your child what they can do in order to succeed at the task rather than what they did not do - practice measuring success in terms of self-improvement rather than by triumphs over others.

Example:

Parent: Wow, are those ribbons from the track meet? Come tell me how it went today.
Child: These are just participation ribbons. I didn’t win anything.
Parent: I bet it was still fun though. Which event did you enjoy most?
Child: Definitely 400 meters. I was 8th so I was close to placing in the top six and getting a ribbon. But I think it made me too tired for long jump!
Parent: Sounds like you worked really hard out there today! Maybe you just need to practice more before the next tryouts and track meet.
Child: I guess.
Parent: Now that you know what you like, you can focus on what you need to do to get even better at it.
Child: Hey, maybe I should start practicing now!

Teach Kids How to Calm Themselves When Stressed

Help kids tune into their bodies. Explain how the physical signs of stress are in fact healthy responses that get our bodies ready for action. Teach them how to take slow deep breaths and feel the difference between tension and relaxation. And have them practice the feared task in their imagination while feeling good about themselves and the outcome.

Example:

Child: I’m getting really nervous about the track meet today. So many people will be there watching us!
Parent: That’s your body telling you to get prepared for action. It’s good to be aware that your body talks to you.
Child: But what if “getting prepared for action” wears you out before you even start running?
Parent: Well, you could try calming yourself by taking slow, deep breaths. Let’s try it together right now. Can you feel the tension leaving your body? Okay, now imagine yourself running the 400 meter race and winning! That’s the kind of thing famous athletes say they do to de-stress and be at their best during important competitions.

Persevere in Building Resilience

Resiliency develops at different rates for everyone. Our job as parents is to understand our children’s unique strengths and weaknesses, and use that understanding in ways that are right for them. This will help encourage good decisions around substance use. Show that you care and love your child, and don’t stop connecting, talking and supporting them as they grow into the teenage years and face progressively more difficult decisions. Don’t give up, keep in mind that parenting takes a lot of patience, practice and perspective - and a lot of love and humour!

For More Information

For more information about how to talk to your kids about substance use and overdose, see the following parenting articles:

• Keep Having Conversations with Kids
• Building Kids’ Resilience
• Setting a Healthy Example for Your Kids

Last Reviewed: December 2016