Creating Resilience in Teens with Becky Goddard Hill

Do you think your teenager is moody and negative?

Becky Goddard Hill is co-author of Be Happy, Be You - a teenage guide to happiness. Her book - and this podcast episode - is packed with small tips that teens can easily fit into their lives to help improve how they're feeling.

Our teens are happier than we think they are

However, beneath the sometimes surly demeanor, Becky says our teenagers are coping really well with the stress in their lives. During lockdown children's charity Childline had a 40% increase in calls from under 11's, but calls from teenagers reduced. The assumption is that the reduced burden of schoolwork and real-time relationship pressures meant that teens actually felt calmer than usual during lockdown.

In contrast, re-entering the new normal of Covid life has found teenagers more worried than they were before, so Becky's tips on helping them to cope are super relevant right now.

Accepting that teens have a different reality

What I loved most about my chat with Becky though was how she puts into perspective the frustrations I might have with my own teenagers, and helps me to understand that they're coming at life from a totally different place to me! She says we're all born with negativity bias, and that giving into that as parents could be a modelling behaviour we need to address in ourselves. Becky made me think about role modelling positivity and optimism with my kids, because it will be contagious - especially during the pandemic!

Why teens make us despair!

There's also a reason why our teenagers indulge in risky behaviours. Apparently dopamine levels are reduced in the teenage years, meaning that young people start to up their risk factors in order to get the happiness hit they're looking for. Who knew!

Have a listen to the episode for more brilliant nuggets of information and advice from Becky.

Useful links to things we spoke about:

News from Childline about the increase in calls from under 11sPaul Dolan - Happiness by DesignRainy Day Mum's bread recipe

Where to find more from Becky:

Becky's books - Be Happy Be You, Create Your Own Calm, and you can pre-order Create Your Own Kindness on Amazon.Becky is also on Twitter, Instagram, and has her own website A Beautiful Space.

More teenage parenting tips:

There are lots more episodes of the Teenage Kicks podcast. You can email me on [email protected]. I’ve also got some posts on the blog that might help parents with other teenage parenting dilemmas, so do pop over to Actually Mummy if you fancy a read.

Thank you so much for listening! Subscribe now to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear all my new episodes. I'll be talking to some fabulous guests about difficult things that happened to them as teenagers - including losing a parent, becoming a young carer, and being hospitalised with mental health problems - and how they overcame things to move on with their lives.

You can also find more from me on parenting teenagers on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills. I'm delighted to say that I've recently been added to this list of top teen parenting podcasters, which - after only two series I'm super proud of.

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Please note that I am not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice.