Continuing Part 2 of Strengthening Families: Five Protective Factors (from the Center for the Study of Social Policy’s strengtheningfamilies.net), which was a very helpful Parents Helping Parents webinar presented by parent advocate Mary Ellen Peterson. Please check out Part 1, where I review parent resilience, social connections, and knowledge of parenting and child development.
Children are especially vulnerable due to the changes to their education and social environments in the age of COVID-19.
Peterson spoke about the five protective factors or a safety net that enhances strong families despite “exposure to significant adversity” as follows:
- Parental Resilience (previously discussed)
- Social Connections (previously discussed)
- Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development (previously discussed)
- Concrete Support in Times of Need
- Social and Emotional Competence of Children
Following are the last two factors and Peterson’s list of resources.
Concrete Support in Times of Need
Providing parents with the building blocks of competency and confidence is a fine balancing act.
In this context, Peterson says that concrete support means "immediate help to minimize the stress caused by very difficult challenges and adversity”, like in the current COVID-19 environment.
Peterson says that she feels that asking for support is not easy for parents because of feelings of being incompetent and of not knowing where to go for help.
Please see the list of resources at the end of the blog for a list of resources to help you find organizations that provide concrete support!
Social and Emotional Competency in Children
Peterson says that parents can help their children “to develop the ability to recognize and regulate their emotions, express themselves, and interact with others” by building the following emotional competencies:
- Self-esteem
- Self-confidence
- Self-efficacy
- Self-regulation
- Personal agency (“planning and carrying out purposeful actions”)
- Executive functioning
- Patience
- Persistence
- Conflict resolution
- Communication skills
- Empathy
- Social skills
- Morality
Peterson highlights the following as elements needed in order for children to thrive:
- Nurturing and trustful relationships
- Routines
- Interactive language experiences
- Physically and emotionally safe environments
- Opportunities to explore and learn each day
Peterson says that there are things that parents can do in order to develop the emotional competencies:
- Model empathy
- Allow a safe place for your child to express emotions. It’s okay to get angry in this space, i.e.
- Be emotionally responsive.
- Set clear expectations and limits
- Express and reinforce social skills like saying “please” and “thank you.”
- Create opportunities for children to be able to solve simple problems, progressively increasing in complexity as they age. THIS IS IMPORTANT!
- Reinforce positive behaviors
List of Resources
- Parents Helping Parents (PHP): local resource
- Center for the Study of Social Policy: strengtheningfamilies.net section includes info on COVID-19!
- Childtrends.org
- CDE Special Education Guidance for COVID-19
- California Department of Health
- California Department of Developmental Services
- YMCA Silicon Valley Child care referrals
- California Preschool Curriculum Framework
Please let me know if you have any questions!
Add a comment to: Strengthening Families: Five Protective Factors Part 2