Protective Factor

For Everyone

For Parents & Caregivers

Resilience

Everyone needs to be resilient to have the ability to manage stress and function well when faced with challenges, adversity, and navigating the effects of trauma.

• Managing the stressors of daily life.
• Calling on inner strength to deal with challenges.
• Having self-confidence.
• Believing one can make and achieve goals.
• Having faith; feeling hopeful.
• Being able to manage day-to-day problems.
• Having a positive attitude about life.
• Managing anger, anxiety, sadness and other negative feelings.
• Ability to manage negative emotions

• Not allowing stressors to keep one from providing nurturing attention to ones child.
• Solving parenting problems.
• Having a positive attitude about parenting roles and responsibilities.
• Seeking help for one's child when needed.

Relationships

Everyone needs social connections with friends, family, and neighbors. These are positive relationships that provide emotional, informational and spiritual support, as well as a helping hand when needed.

• Building and having relationships with people you trust
• Feeling respected and appreciated
• Having people in your life who:
  • Help solve problems
  • Provide emotional support (e.g., affirming)
  • Provide a helping hand (eg., give a ride to the doctor)
  • Provide informational support (e.g., give advice to prepare for a job interview)
  • Provide spiritual support {e.g., hope and encouragement)
• Having opportunities to engage with others in positive social environments.
• Having a sense of belonging and reduced feelings of isolation

• Having people in your life who:
  • Provide emotional support (e.g., affirm parenting skills)
  • Provide a helping hand (e.g., pick your child up from day care)
  • Provide informational support (e.g., give parenting advice)

Knowledge

Parents and caregivers need knowledge of parenting and child development. This includes understanding parenting strategies to support the physical, cognitive, linguistic, social, and emotional development of children.

• Seeking, acquiring and using accurate and age/stage-related information about:
  • Appropriate developmental expectations
  • Positive discipline techniques
• Understanding the importance of:
  • Being attended and emotionally available to one's child
  • Being nurturing, responsible and reliable
  • Interactive language experiences leg., talking with your child)
  • Providing a physically and emotional safe environment for one's child
  • Provide opportunities for your child to explore and learn by doing
• Recognizing and attending to the special needs of a child

Support

Everyone needs access to concrete support in times of need. This includes resources and services that address an individual's or family's needs and help minimize stress caused by challenges.

• Being resourceful and seeking help when needed.
• Being able to identify, find and receive basic needs (e.g., healthy food, safe environment)
• Being able to identify, find and receive specialized medical, mental health, social, educational
or legal services
• Understanding one's right to access
eligible services
• Gaining knowledge and awareness of relevant services
• Successfully navigating through service systems
• Using your voice to advocate for yourself, your family, and your community

Communication

Parents and Caregivers need to support the social and emotional competence of children. Interactions help children develop the ability to communicate, recognize and regulate emotions, and establish and maintain relationships.

• Responding warmly and consistently to a child's needs
• Fostering a strong and secure parent-child relationship
• Creating an environment in which children feel safe to express their emotions
• Being emotionally responsive to children and modeling empathy
• Talking with one's child to promote vocabulary development and language learning
• Setting clear expectations and limits
• Separating emotions from actions
• Encouraging and reinforcing social skills such as greeting others and taking turns
• Creating opportunities for children to solve problems

• Developing and engaging in self-regulating behaviors
• Using words and language skills
• Communicating emotions effectively with others

Economic Mobility

Everyone should be financially stable, be able to meet basic needs, and have access to supports to build career pathways.

• Having financial security to cover basic needs and unexpected costs
• Understanding importance of and establishing good credit
• Creating and sticking to a budget
• Having access to personal and professional networks for educational and career support
• Setting educational, career, and financial goals
• Having and making deposits to a savings account
• Developing and working toward capital goals (e.g„ home ownership)
• Home buying seminars, assisting families to obtain stable housing by applying for housing vouchers, applying for housing lotteries
• Experiencing increased financial stability

• Access to quality early care and education
• Supporting educational success and academic enhancement activities
• Having college savings accounts for children

Community

Everyone needs to build strong relationships in their community, and parents and caregivers should support nurturing relationships and healthy attachments with their children that create a foundation for healthy relationships later in life.

• Having a sense "community mindfulness" or thinking about the collective
• Finding ways to "give back" to one's neighbors and community
• Establishing trust with neighbors
• Being part of a club or group
• Being involved in one's church or other house of worship
• Being involved In ones block club or neighborhood association
• Attending community meetings and town halls

• Understanding parenting behaviors that lead to secure attachments (e.g., be affectionate and nurturing and talk to your baby)
• Frequent hugs, smiles and loving and encouraging words
• Talk to your baby
• Frequent eye contact with infants and young children