Resilience and protective factors

Resilience is shaped by both nature (inherent characteristics) and nurture (supportive environments). Just one positive relationship can significantly foster a child’s ability to cope, adapt, and thrive despite the challenges faced.

Resilience as a protective factor

A child’s brain is particularly sensitive to stress, especially during early childhood years, which spans from birth to around 8 years of age, with the first 5 years being the most critical for brain development (Shonkoff et al.). Ongoing adversity can disrupt brain development, affecting emotion regulation and increasing the risk of mental and physical health issues later in life. However, resilience acts as a protective factor as resilient children can better recover from stress, engaging parts of the brain that support problem-solving and adaptation.

Promote and support resilience in children

Support a child’s development of resilience by taking a holistic view of their environment. Look beyond their immediate behaviours to consider factors such as family routines, strengths, and emotional surroundings. Identify what helps or hinders their resilience to plan and implement targeted support.

This 2-minute video presented by Emerging Minds illustrates how a child’s mental health cannot be separated from the broader context of their lives. 

Strategies to support the development of resilience

The following approaches, taken by Child Safety or by a child’s parent or carer will support and promote the development of a child’s resilience. 

• Encourage the child to take age-appropriate, manageable risks to foster independence and self-confidence.
• Praise a child’s effort (rather than outcome), to reinforce a child’s attempt and perseverance as valuable skills, even if they do not succeed.
• Resist the urge to solve a child’s presenting problems; instead, give the child space to develop their own problem-solving skills.
• Allow the child to experience and navigate uncomfortable situations so they can learn to predict and address future challenges.
• Help the child identify and regulate their strong emotions by showing empathy and compassion and guide them to understand that feelings are temporary.
• Acknowledge and celebrate when things are going well as this provides the child with positive experiences to draw upon during difficult times.

The role of positive parenting in supporting children’s mental health

Children’s mental health is deeply influenced by strong relationships with caring adults, which foster trust, emotional regulation, and social development. Challenges faced by parents such as stress, mental health issues, or difficult circumstances, can disrupt these nurturing relationships potentially leading to insecure attachment and social or emotional difficulties for children.

Support parents’ approach to positive parenting and their ability to maintain a relationship-focused approach will in turn promote their child’s resilience and mental wellbeing. Work with parents to reflect on the impact they have on their child and nurture stronger bonds to ease a child’s challenging behaviours reducing stress for both parent and child.