B2 – Upper Intermediate
Distinguishing “supporting” and “enabling” is crucial in relationships and personal growth. Both of these ideas involve lending a hand to others but they have different outcomes.
Read this article to learn the difference between supporting and enabling.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/supporting-enabling-difference_l_64c004ffe4b00356919b39ae
Vocabulary Questions:
- What does “cross the line”mean? “People often do not realize that they are crossing the fine line between support and enabling.” Give a synonym and write a sentence using “cross the line”.
- What does “teeter into” mean? “But sometimes people’s attempts at support teeter into more harmful territory: enablement.” Give a synonym and write a sentence using “teeter into”.
- What does “swoop into” mean? “It sends the signal that life is perfect, that everyone else will swoop into clean up the mess and reinforces entitled behavior.” Give a synonym and write a sentence using “swoop into”.
Discussion Questions:
- What is the key difference between supporting and enabling when it comes to helping someone in need?
- Are there situations where enabling might be necessary or justified, and if so, what distinguishes them from situations where support is more appropriate?
- How does setting healthy boundaries play a role in differentiating between support and enabling?
- What are some instances of enabling actions that might be misinterpreted as support?
- How do you find a balance between giving support and letting a friend or family member to face the repercussions of their actions when faced with constant mistakes or poor choices?
2 replies on “Supporting vs. Enabling”
Discussion Questions:
1. What is the key difference between supporting and enabling when it comes to helping someone in need?
Maybe we can explain the differences looking at time factor. Supporting would be a long-term and lasting solution to the problem, while enabling would be a temporary fix or a short-term solution.
One example would be to give money to a friend, or to support and help him to find a job or improve his skills in order to find a job.
2. Are there situations where enabling might be necessary or justified, and if so, what distinguishes them from situations where support is more appropriate?
Sometimes there are urgent situations that requires some enabling approaches, but only for a little period of time until you can try to support for a long-term solution to the problem. An example could be helping a family member to paid some gambling debts to avoid the prison but also supporting him to a long-term solution that includes therapy, join the black list of gambling, etc.
3. How does setting healthy boundaries play a role in differentiating between support and enabling?
An enabling approach is not going to solve the problem, and involucrate you in a unhealthy way, maybe in a vicious cycle and also in a dependency that drag you into problems. So, it is important to setting healthy boundaries and know way well before hand how should be your commitment and what limits you shouldn’t cross.
4. What are some instances of enabling actions that might be misinterpreted as support?
I think sometime the people that try to help their love ones simply are not aware that they are solving their problems not helping them to find the way and work to solve the problem. In this case and in general it is important the professional help (psychologist, psychiatrist, etc.)
5. How do you find a balance between giving support and letting a friend or family member to face the repercussions of their actions when faced with constant mistakes or poor choices?
I think is important to support the love ones and try several times. But there should be a limit, and the limit is simply to see if the other people is trying and fight to solve the problem or not. If the answer is NOT, you should quit immediately: it’s impossible to help to someone that doesn’t want to be helped.
The amount of efforts you put into your writing exercise is impressive.
Here is a sentence that can still be improved:
Looking forward to your next entry!