Being a teenager is tough—balancing social pressures, friendships, part-time jobs, activities, and college prep can be overwhelming. As moms, we want to help our teens build emotional resilience to manage it all. You’re in the right place.
What Emotional Resilience Can Give Your Teen
“Emotional resilience is the ability to adapt to stressful situations, and cope with life’s ups and downs,” says The University of Warwick. Being resilient doesn’t make difficulties go away but helps teens work through them and then move on with their lives. It’s something they need to develop as they grow into young adults. Life can be tough. But if your teen has emotional resilience, he won’t let day-to-day challenges hold him back.
How to Build Emotional Resilience
Sleep is the first step in building your teen’s emotional resilience. Help him get 8–10 hours of sleep each night so he can better regulate his emotions and handle stress. Another key ingredient is a hopeful outlook. Remind your teen that setbacks are part of life and can help us grow. And being hopeful can motivate us to keep trying. Lastly, encourage your teen to have a sense of humor. Taking life too seriously can make ordinary challenges feel worse. But being able to see the humor in difficulties is a way to change perspective. It’s also a great stress reliever.
How to Use This Printable With Your Teen
We want our kids to be emotionally resilient and able to handle tough things. To build emotional resilience, get your teen thinking and talking about his or her feelings, thoughts, and emotions. Use this printable as a jumping-off point and see where the conversation goes.
Pick one or two questions from the list to build your teen’s awareness about her emotions. If she seems willing to talk, keep going. Then see where it goes. You might revisit this list again in a few days.
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