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Building Resilience

Parent Up hosts FREE Fall Workshop Series for Parents & Caregivers!

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Join Parent Up and Beacon Mental Health for an engaging lineup of free educational sessions designed to support parents and caregivers of youth in the Northland. With options to tune in over lunch or in the evening, these sessions will help you strengthen your connection with your child and update your parenting tools for today’s challenges. All sessions are hosted by Beacon Mental Health and Parent Up.

Tuesday, September 15, 2026

Making Meaningful Connections

How can you create a space for care and conversation as a trusted adult? Learn about current social media trends in youth and what mental health experiences are beginning to emerge at pivotal times of a child’s life. This will be a session about creating intentional relationships!

 

Thursday, September 17, 2026

Youth Mental Health First Aid

In Youth Mental Health First Aid training participants will learn how to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illness and substance use disorder in youth. Training is offered throughout the year, or private training for schools of 15 or more are available by request. Preregistration required and a certificate is provided upon completion.

 

  • Date: Thursday, September 17, 2026
  • Time: 9:00 am – 3:30 pm 
  • Location: Beacon Mental Health
  • For questions or to register, contact Jeanene at jeanene@beaconmh.org.

Wednesday, September 23, 2026

Parent Up: A Parent's Guide to Prevention

As parents, we invest a lot of energy into safeguarding our children— baby gates, seat belts, sunscreen, and more. But as our kids grow from age 8 to age 18, and their risks evolve, so too must our strategies and boundaries. Parents, we’ll equip you with the latest knowledge, effective communication strategies, and supportive resources to help kids avoid substance use and other risky behaviors. 

 

Tuesday, September 29, 2026

Roots of Resilience

Resilience is the ability to prepare for, cope with, and grow through hardships. Building the resilience and strength of our families is one of the most impactful investments we can make in our community. This presentation explores the science of stress and adversity – both the positive and the toxic – and equips attendees with actions so we can build resilient children, families and communities.

 

Wednesday, October 10, 2026

Grow Strong Game Plan: Supporting Our Student Athletes

This session explores local youth mental health data and substance use trends, the connection between mental health and substance use, and the powerful role caring adults play in prevention. Learn how to support your student athlete’s mental and physical well-being, build resilience, and encourage healthy decision-making.

 

Wednesday, October 21, 2026

The Brain Explained

Using fun analogies and simple models, learn more about what’s going on in a child’s brain as they develop. This presentation empowers and equips adults with tangible tools and language to protect and promote healthy lifestyles for their youth. 

 

Tuesday, November 10, 2026

Preventing A New Generation of Addiction

Amid misinformation and the rise of vaping, high-potency THC, and fentanyl, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. This session breaks down the facts, helps you recognize warning signs, and offers guidance for having meaningful conversations with your child.

 

Tuesday, November 17, 2026

Gather Around: Coming to the Table to Support Youth Wellbeing

Life gets busy, but supporting your child’s wellbeing doesn’t require big changes. Learn how simple, consistent moments like sharing meals can strengthen connection and improve overall wellbeing. 

 

5 Easy Tips for Making a Homecoming Game Plan with Your Teen

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Homecoming is a big night for teens, and a little planning can help keep it fun and safe. Before your teen heads out, take a few minutes to talk through the plan, set expectations, and make sure they know what to do if things change.

Use these five easy steps to make your Homecoming Game Plan together:

1. Get All the Details

Know the plan before they go:

  • Where will they be?
  • Who will they be with?
  • What time will they be there?
  • Who is driving?
  • How can you reach them?

Agree on a curfew and have your teen check in when they get home.

2. Don’t Forget the After-Party

The dance may end, but the night usually doesn’t. Know what’s happening afterward and where. If your teen is going to someone’s house, connect with the parents and confirm that alcohol will not be available. If you’re able, consider hosting a safe after-party at your home.

3. Make Your No-Use Expectations Clear

Don’t assume your teen already knows where you stand. Say it out loud: “I expect you to stay alcohol- and drug-free tonight.”

 

Remind them not to use alcohol, marijuana, vapes, or other drugs and never to ride with someone who has been drinking or using substances. Clear expectations matter. When parents disapprove of underage substance use, teens listen.

4. Prepare for Peer Pressure

Give your teen a few responses they can pull out quickly if they’re offered alcohol, a vape, or another substance: “Not my thing.” “No thanks.” “Nah, I’m good.”

 

It might feel cheesy to practice, but having the words ready can make it easier to say no in the moment. Come up with a code word your teen can text you if they need help getting out of an uncomfortable or unsafe situation. The message can simply mean: “Come get me.”

5. Never Allow or Provide Alcohol to Minors

Here’s the good news: the large majority of Northland youth choose not to drink alcohol, and nearly all Northland parents do not allow minors to drink.

 

Providing alcohol to teens puts their safety, developing brains, and your family at risk. Protect teens from serious health, personal, and legal consequences by never providing or allowing alcohol use by minors.

 

If you know about an upcoming party where you reasonably suspect alcohol will be provided to minors, contact your local law enforcement agency’s non-emergency number. You can also anonymously send the Alcohol Parent Up Warning Letter to the adults at the residence.

Homecoming should be fun. The goal isn’t to ruin the night with rules. It’s to make sure your teen has a plan, knows your expectations, and knows you’ll be there if they need you.

 

Take ten minutes to make the plan. Then let them go have a great night and come home safely.

- Parent Up KC Staff

More to Explore:

  • Learn more and find free tools and resources on our Alcohol page
  • Check out our Prevent Use page to learn more about what parents can do to prevent underage drinking, marijuana use, and more
  • Read more Parent Up Insights

9 Ways to Root Your Family in Resilience

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As parents or caregivers, we know you want the best for your kids and hope that they get to stay in their carefree kid phase for as long as possible. The reality, though, is that kids DO face challenges. As parents and caregivers, you play a crucial role in helping your kids develop the resilience to overcome those challenges!

What is Resilience?

According to the American Psychological Association, resilience is the ability to adapt well to adversity, trauma, tragedy, or significant sources of stress. It is a tool to help manage uncomfortable feelings such as anxiety, uncertainty, or stress. Resilient kids are better equipped to handle the everyday challenges of life and cope with problems they encounter.

 

And the good news? Resilience can be built in kids (and adults!) of all ages, starting at home.

9 Ways Families Can Root Kids in Resilience Starting NOW!

1. Give yourself (and your kids) grace. It’s safe to say that we all make mistakes. When we acknowledge mistakes, and talk about what can be learned from them, it lets our kids know that when they make mistakes or face challenges, it will be okay!

2. Provide structure for kids. Predictability and routine help make kids feel safe and give them purpose. Every second of your day doesn’t need to be planned out, but consider including things like morning and nighttime routines, blocks of time for school work or unstructured play, or even time set aside to plan/talk about what’s going on that day. Just as important as having routine, however, is to model flexibility. Our kids will be watching to see how we respond when we’re running late, as unplanned things pop up, and when life’s other common disruptions happen.

3. Practice your own self-care. Drink water, take breaks, maintain a consistent sleep schedule, move your body, color, read, do things you enjoy most. Taking care of yourself is essential for taking care of kids, and will help you and your child(ren) be better equipped to handle stress or challenges.

4. Model positive coping skills. Put words to your positive coping actions, for example:  “Whew, I am feeling stressed.  I’m going to take a walk. Want to come too?” If you find yourself reacting to a situation with a negative coping skill, talk with your child about how you would handle that differently next time and what they would do if they were ever feeling that way.

5. Find intentional moments to connect. A report from Harvard University suggests that the key to resilience in youth is one stable and committed relationship with a supportive adult. To build that connection, utilize meal times, car rides, or set aside time to just talk, play, and be together. Strengthening these relationships before challenging or stressful times can help ensure that your child has at least one person they feel comfortable talking to when those times do come.

6. Foster a sense of community. In addition to building connections with you, find places within your neighborhood, school, or larger community where your kids can feel connected to others. Whether that’s joining a club, volunteering, attending larger family gatherings, or even just hanging out with peers, building a community where they feel included can promote resilience in the long run.

7. Teach problem solving; don’t give answers. Sometimes it’s easier to give kids answers and solutions to small problems, because we’ve been there and done that! However, kids need that opportunity to build those skills and practice coming to a successful solution on their own. Try asking them questions that might lead them to a solution and build their confidence in solving small problems by themselves.

8. Move towards your goals. Model goal setting for yourself and help your child(ren) set reasonable goals. Setting goals can help kids feel a sense of control and as they accomplish those goals, building their confidence. In this process you’ll have the chance to help them identify stepping stones towards their goals, manage setbacks, evaluate their plans, and most importantly, celebrate successes big and small.

9. Choose an attitude of gratitude. Focusing on things you are grateful for is instant stress relief! With practice, focusing on gratitude can help build emotional resilience by encouraging us to focus on the positives instead of the negatives. You can model gratitude, especially in hard times, by saying things like “Even though this is hard, I’m glad we have each other for support.” 

Together, We Can Grow More Resilient Kids

Youth in our community have tremendous potential and we all benefit when this potential is realized! We are excited to partner with individuals, organizations, and various areas of our community to ensure that our actions support youth resilience and mental health. 

 

When we are intentional, and work together, we can ensure that ALL kids have the opportunity to thrive! Learn more about building resilience in your kids – and yourself – on our Roots of Resilience page! 

 

– Parent Up KC Staff

More Resources

Parenting: The Quiet Heartbreak of Doing Your Best

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Miranda Jamison is a local parent and the lead reporter for The Richmond News and The Excelsior Springs Standard. She covers everything from local government and education to the people and events that make small-town Missouri thrive. 

Passionate about storytelling, Miranda strives to write pieces that inform, connect, and inspire her community. When she’s not covering a meeting or writing a feature, she enjoys time with her daughter, Aurora, who inspires much of the heart behind her work.

Parenting doesn’t always break your heart in loud or dramatic ways.

Most of the time, it’s quieter. It happens when the house is still, the workday feels endless and you suddenly realize your child has been waiting for you to notice the time slipping by. It’s the kind of heartbreak that doesn’t come from a single moment but from the slow awareness that love, no matter how strong, sometimes gets buried beneath responsibility.

The other night, my daughter Aurora told me she feels like I am always working. She said when we go somewhere, it’s usually an event for my job, and that even when we’re home, I’m on my computer late into the night. Her voice wasn’t angry, just honest. To her, work had become the quiet wall between us.

Parents everywhere know that sinking feeling. You try to explain work isn’t a choice, it’s what keeps life running. You tell them it’s what allows the lights to stay on, the bills to be paid and the small joys to be possible. But no matter how carefully you explain it, the words never feel like enough. They sound like excuses when what they want most is your time.

That conversation with my daughter felt like a small knife in the chest, not because  she meant to hurt me but because she was right. It wasn’t about neglect or disinterest – it was about the cost of doing your best. Every parent tries to balance a dozen worlds at once and the guilt comes not from failing, but from realizing that success in one part of life can look like absence in another.

When she spoke, I saw years of late nights, phone calls during dinner and events blurring the line between personal and professional. To me, those moments were a sign of dedication. To her, they were evidence she didn’t have my full attention.

Both of us were right and both of us were hurting.

It’s easy to romanticize parenthood as a perfect story filled with laughter, bedtime hugs and shared adventures. What often gets left out is the moment when your child shares something, forcing you to see yourself more clearly. The part where your best intentions are overshadowed by regret. Parenting isn’t just love and patience, it’s constant recalibration.

After our talk, we sat in silence for a while. She leaned her head on my shoulder and neither of us said much. That silence was its own kind of understanding. It wasn’t forgiveness exactly, just a quiet truce between love and the world that keeps intruding on it.

Later that night, after she went to bed, I stared at the computer screen and wondered how many moments I had traded for another hour of work. The thought wasn’t about guilt, exactly. It was about recognition. The realization I had been moving too fast to notice the small things she’d been missing.

The truth is, working parents live with a constant tug-of-war. You want to provide stability, but that pursuit can start to erase the very presence your children crave. You tell yourself they’ll understand someday, when they’re grown and see the bills, deadlines and expectations. But what if the understanding never fully replaces the memory of distance?

 My daughter’s words echoed in my head long after she went to bed. “You’re always
 working.” Simple, but true. It reminded me that childhood moves quickly, while the work never ends. The emails will always come. The stories, the meetings, the demands – they refill faster than you can finish them.

But a child’s voice asking for your attention doesn’t stay young forever.

That night, I made a quiet promise to be more aware. Not to do more, or plan more, but to notice more. To pause before answering another email. To hear my daughter when she speaks, not just listen while thinking about what comes next.

Parenting rarely offers do-overs. It does give softer chances, though. Those small, unseen moments where we realize we’ve been running too fast to feel what matters. Awareness becomes its own kind of apology. It’s not about grand gestures or perfect balance. It’s about slowing down enough to let love be noticed.

Since that conversation, I’ve caught myself paying closer attention. The sound of her laughter, the stories she tells in half-sentences, the way her eyes light up when she’s proud of something. They’re ordinary things, easy to overlook, but they’ve started to feel like reminders that connection doesn’t demand time – it demands presence. 

Every parent carries the weight of two truths: that we work to give our children the best and that in doing so, we sometimes drift away from the very people we’re working for. We chase security, comfort, opportunity – all noble things – but in the process, we risk missing the quiet, unremarkable beauty of simply being there.

There’s no easy fix. Bills won’t disappear, jobs won’t slow down and the world won’t suddenly hand us more hours in a day. But maybe it’s not about finding more time. Maybe it’s about recognizing the time that already exists, tucked between moments we’ve convinced ourselves are too busy to matter.

Parenting doesn’t have a finish line or a final grade. There’s no scoreboard to tell you how you’re doing. Some nights you’ll feel like you’re failing and maybe that’s part of the work. The ache of it means you care deeply enough to notice the gap between what you give and what they need.

The heartbreak of parenting isn’t a sign of failure – it’s proof of love. It’s the quiet reminder that our hearts are tied to something we can’t control, something that grows and pulls away and depends on us, yet dreams of independence. It’s knowing every moment of closeness is temporary and love demands showing up anyway.

That night with my daughter subtly changed something in me. It didn’t eliminate responsibilities, but it shifted how I see them. Deadlines still matter, but sometimes the story can wait, and work can be paused.

Because in the end, children won’t remember how hard we worked. They’ll remember if we looked up. They’ll remember the warmth in our voice, laughter during late dinners and walks that didn’t have a purpose beyond being together.

It’s humbling to realize love and effort don’t always look the same from both sides. To a child, love looks like time. To a parent, love often looks like sacrifice. The hardest part of parenting is trying to show both at once and forgiving yourself when you fall short.

That’s what makes it heartbreaking. You can give everything you have and still wish you had given it differently. But even in that ache, there’s beauty.

Because every parent who feels that tug, that guilt, that deep want to do better – is already doing something right.

Love doesn’t demand perfection. It simply asks us to keep showing up, keep trying and never stop listening when our children remind us what truly matters.

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