How Strength-Based Parenting Can Help Your Children Thrive and Grow During the Pandemic
Recent studies show that children are experiencing more stress because of deviations from the norm due to the pandemic. However, this situation also presents an opportunity for parents to help their children thrive.
As the COVID pandemic runs into its third year, my family and I have been spending a lot (A LOT) of time together. And recently, we went on a seven-day isolation because my son, Nick, contracted the virus. In total, we’ve been in lockdown for 262 days since the pandemic started.
I know this scenario is not unique to my family alone.
Many families in different cities and countries are likely experiencing the same thing. The truth is that families are spending more time with each other, whether we like it or not. And it is affecting our families in different ways. According to multiple studies, the pandemic is increasing the stress levels of the global population. It’s causing more people, particularly children and adolescents, to exhibit symptoms of mental illness.
At the same time, research also suggests that stress is not always a negative influence. People can grow and thrive in these times of stress. And for parents, spending more time with their kids presents an opportunity to help improve family wellbeing.
So, how can you make good use of this opportunity?
One way is through strength-based parenting.
And that is what we’re going to discuss in this article.
What is Strength-Based Parenting?
Strengths are the positive personal characteristics that we have. These include personality traits, psychological abilities, moral qualities and talents. These characteristics come naturally but can also be developed through effort and practice.
Two decades of research has shown that identifying and using our strengths frequently can improve our physical and psychological health.
In the same vein, Strength-Based Parenting (SBP) is a style of parenting that actively seeks to identify and cultivate strengths in one’s children. So, if you’re practising strength-based parenting, it means you constantly seek two things:
1. To recognise what your child can do well
2. To support them so they can practice and cultivate the strengths that have not yet grown
Considering the stress the pandemic brings on our children, now seems to be a good time to practice SBP. Doing so can help them grow through the current stress and help them learn and develop strategies to grow through future stresses.
I’m going to outline four positive impacts of SBP that have been found in two recent psychology studies that I have published with my team of researchers.
4 Positive Impacts of SBP on Children During COVID
Impact #1 - Increases Academic Motivation
Several studies have shown that engagement is significantly linked to belongingness in schools. And this then promotes academic motivation. That is, when children feel connected to the relationships they cultivated in school, they tend to do better academically.
Those connections have now become difficult for children to maintain. And it’s because of the lockdowns imposed due to the pandemic or repeated absences of your own kids or their friends due to contracting the virus or being a close contact.
When you practice SBP, you can encourage them to use their strengths to solve their problems, one of which is remaining connected with their school. As such, they can use their own strengths to learn to keep in touch with their peers and teachers, set up study routines, and also organise an effective learning environment. They may use strengths like kindness, curiosity, creativity and team work to stay connected.
This can boost their sense of belongingness and increase their academic motivation despite the stressful circumstances they find themselves in.
Impact #2 - Improves Coping Skills
One way in which people develop skills to cope with stress is positive reappraisal. And this has been established in a number of studies.
So, what is positive reappraisal?
This involves reassessing stressful events and finding beneficial meanings from them. With this, you can help your child build mental strength for them to cope better with stressful situations. Not to mention pursue positive outcomes in spite of such situations.
But here’s the thing:
Positive appraisal is a subjective and dynamic process. And how a situation is appraised in the future depends on current experiences.
With SBP, you can foster a stronger parent-child connection and build up your child’s confidence in their strengths. As a result, they are more likely to be able to positively appraise their experiences because they know they have the strengths to find the silver lining. This way, they can cope better with stressful situations.
Impact #3 - Makes Children More Optimistic
Parents who adopt a strength-based approach to parenting help their children to deliberately seek ways to identify and cultivate strengths, positive states and qualities in their children. As a result, children exposed to SBP can learn to be more optimistic.
Due to their improved coping skills, they are more likely to identify positives in stressful situations like the pandemic. For instance, those kids may see how the changes they’ve experienced during COVID have helped them develop new technology skills and fostered their adaptability and growth from stressful life events.
This can play a significant role in improving their mental health during and after the pandemic.
Impact #4 - Helps Them Deal Better with Change
Childhood and adolescence are vulnerable and trying life stages for kids and teens. After all, they experience a surge of different and conflicting emotions as they go through physical, emotional, and social changes. And today, this period has become more trying for them when you add the stress brought on by the pandemic.
However, if kids and teens can learn how to regulate their emotions and form nourishing relationships, they can develop essential skills to help make this period less trying for them.
Practising SBP can help them foster these skills.
That’s because it promotes the formation of a strong bond between parent and child. And this provides them with a strong foundation for a nourishing relationship. As such, children and adolescents will be more likely to look to their parents for support. They might even be more receptive to the advice they give them.
Help Your Child Thrive Despite The Pandemic
The COVID pandemic has disrupted how families live, interact, and connect with each other.
Unfortunately, these changes have increased the stress levels of many kids. Especially as they struggle to come to terms with the deviations from their school and family life that they were used to.
But if you practice SBP, you have a better chance of increasing their capacity to cope with the stress and grow through it. It can also help them build better relationships, which can then promote their mental wellbeing.
Do you want to learn more about helping your child thrive during the pandemic? Download my free SEARCH for Family Guide. Click here