Like a tree in a storm, families can be shaken by the many challenges that life brings. A storm can sometimes swoop in unexpectedly, causing the tree branches and leaves to wildly move back and forth. If the roots aren’t strong, the tree can be uprooted. If the trunk is dry, the tree can break. But if we can foster strong roots and nourish the tree with the nutrients it needs, it can weather many storms. And when other trees are planted all around the tree, it can withstand the strongest winds.
Protective Factors are like nutrients for child development! When parents and families find the information, support, and resources that they need, children are more likely to flourish, even amidst challenges.
What are Protective Factors?
A protective factor balances out the impact of so-called “risk factors” and strengthens development. Risk factors are any conditions, events, or circumstances that increase the chances of developmental delays (e.g., being later to start talking), behavioral challenges, or health concerns. Protective factors, on the other hand, protect the child from such delays or concerns, even when risk factors are present.
We can picture a balancing scale that has risk factors on one side and protective factors on the other. When the scale weighs more heavily on the side of protective factors, we support a child’s or adult’s “resilience.” Resilience means that we can face challenges, like a tree in a storm, but can still survive and even thrive!
Five Protective Factors to Strengthen Families
There is an infinite number of protective factors, and they can be small or large. For example, when you feel stressed, you might feel significantly better after reading a book, talking to a friend, or taking a nature walk. The Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) has put together the five most helpful protective factors for families, based on research. The Strengthening Families Five Protective Factors framework supports parenting, improves child development, and even reduces the risk of child abuse and neglect (when there are risk factors for this). What are these five magical factors?
Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development
If there was a manual for raising children, it would be a different one for every single child! While thousands of research studies have outlined the general sequence of developmental stages that young children go through, such as saying their first words shortly after their first birthday, the timing and exact way that every child meets their milestones is unique.
At Help Me Grow Utah, we offer developmental screening questionnaires to check how your child’s development compares to that of other children of the same age: the Ages and Stages (ASQ) and Ages and Stages: Social-Emotional Questionnaires (ASQ:SE). We also offer the M-CHAT for toddlers aged 16 to 30 months, to check if they show any potential signs of autism. These questionnaires are not meant for diagnosing; they are just a quick check to see if development is on track. Based on the results of these questionnaires and/or your parenting questions, our Parent Support Specialists find individualized tips and resources for you and follow up with you to make sure that you find the answers that you need!
Concrete Support in Times of Need
We all need a little help sometimes! If the car breaks down, we need some help getting the kids to school. If the washing machine stops working, we need to get it fixed (or know where the closest laundromat is!). And when a new baby is born, parents need a lot of support: nutritious food, someone to watch over any other children in the family, all the material things that a baby needs (such as a car seat, clothes, and diapers.), and more.
Everyone needs help at least some of the time, but asking for help can be hard. We have all learned different lessons on giving and receiving help: when it is appropriate to ask for help, how self-reliant you are supposed to be, etc. Many people are very happy to help others but find it hard to reach out if they need anything. Still, we are much more likely to thrive if we have all the support and material things that we need!
At United Way, the 2-1-1 line can help with many concrete concerns, such as resources for housing support, job finding opportunities, or mental health resources. Help Me Grow Utah also offers an abundance of resources to help families thrive. Just ask your Parent Support Specialist, who can help you find any resource that you need!
Parental Resilience
“You can’t pour from an empty cup.” The reality is that parents and other caregivers cannot keep on giving love, time, patience, food, attention, etc., without recharging themselves. Being a parent, especially of one or more young children, is exhausting! Most parents would say that they would do anything for their child. However, if we keep on giving without nourishing ourselves, this can lead to stress and burn-out. When a baby is first born, it is inevitable that parents will lose sleep, have a period of physical and psychological adjustment, and have less time for marital and other supportive relationships. But continually sacrificing our own needs can become a pattern and the longer it lasts, the harder it can be to unlearn.
It is not always possible to take a break, as a parent. But it is important to take a step back from time to time and reflect on what IS possible. Do you notice when you are hungry, thirsty, or need a break? Do you have a friend or family member who can take care of the baby sometimes, so that you can catch up on sleep? Can your spouse, partner, or parent watch the children, so that you can go have lunch with a friend?
Social support is a major way to increase resilience in parents. Other common ways to increase resilience include exercise, team sports, taking a walk in nature, mindfulness or meditation practices (such as yoga), reading, journaling, or creating art. This page has a plethora of handouts that can help foster resilience. What helps you fill up your cup?
Social Connections
Out of all five Protective Factors, Social Connections is the strongest one. Humans were made for connection! Babies’ brains need a lot of time before they mature, and humans evolved to help each other out with child rearing. Our brains and bodies were created such that we feel better with supportive connections: when we are in close social contact, our bodies release oxytocin; this helps us feel safe and relaxed. Our nervous systems communicate with those of other humans. A major way that we can regulate ourselves when we are upset is via social connections, such as talking to a supportive other person, getting a hug, or doing something enjoyable together (such as play, sports, or working together on something that feels positive).
Social connections can support all other protective factors! When you need concrete support, it helps to be able to ask for help within a supportive social network. Via connections with parents who have children of a similar age to yours, you can share parenting tips and resources. Positive social connections also increase resilience and help foster social and emotional competence of children!
Social and Emotional Competence of Children
The last Protective Factor of the Strengthening Families framework is fostering the social and emotional competence of children. This is the only Protective Factor that is focused on the child, instead of the parent or family. That said, parents are still the driving force behind developing social and emotional competence in their children!
A child who has social and emotional competence is able to recognize and regulate their emotions, communicate clearly with others, and create and maintain positive relationships with others. To develop these skills, various “ingredients” are necessary. Biological factors like temperament can be a protective factor or a risk factor. Some babies are naturally calm and smiley, and easy to get onto a regular schedule. Others get easily upset and are hard to soothe and tend to be unpredictable in their sleeping, eating, and elimination schedules. The child’s developmental level is also important: social and emotional skills are supported by brain maturation, advancing language skills, and awareness of self and others. Importantly, a child’s social and emotional skills develop within the context of their close relationships. Strong, supportive, and secure relationships with parents foster a secure sense of self and a trust that others are there to help and support. Gradually, children learn to recognize their own feelings and emotions more and more and find ways to soothe and regulate them and communicate with others about them.
At Help Me Grow Utah, we offer the ASQ:SE to check how your child’s social and emotional competence compares with that of other children of a similar developmental level. This questionnaire gives insights into your child’s strengths in this area, and where he or she might need more support. We offer many tips and resources to support social and emotional competence, such as a technique called Special Time. Please ask your Parent Support Specialist any questions about this area of development! Help Me Grow Utah also has an Early Relational Health Specialist to help answer your questions and find what works for your child and family.
Strengthening Families
As life changes, and especially when “storms” happen, we all need support sometimes. The Strengthening Families Five Protective Factors framework is being applied all throughout the country. In many areas, including Utah, parents have been actively engaged in fostering these protective factors for themselves. Parent groups have given different words to these Five Protective Factors, to make them easier to understand. In Wisconsin, for example, they have been called the Five Strengths:
- Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development: Parenting as Children Grow
- Concrete Support in Times of Need: Knowing How to Find Help
- Parental Resilience: Building Inner Strength
- Social Connections: Connecting with Others
- Social and Emotional Competence of Children: Helping Kids Understand Feelings
More HMGU blog posts will follow to go more in depth about each of these Five Protective Factors. Strengthening them is like nourishing a tree so that it can weather the storms of life!
