This study consisted of the following objectives: 1) to investigate context, problems, needs, and concepts about the development of parents’ skills in communicating with their teenage children; 2) to analyze the Buddhist peaceful means conducive to the development of parents’ skills in communicating with their teenage children; and 3) to develop and present the development process of parents as a counselor friend for teenagers to strengthen peaceful families by Buddhist peaceful means. The study employed mixed-method research which included qualitative and quantitative methods using exploratory sequential design. The qualitative data were collected by in-depth interview with 11 persons and focus group discussion with 6 persons. The quantitative data were collected by pilot experiment with 13 parents. The tools used to examine pre- and post-experiment include parents’ competencies assessment form, participatory observation, and after action review (AAR). Mean and t-test statistics were used to analyze data before summarizing using the descriptive approach.

From the study, the following results are found:

1)  Problems and obstacles that prevent parents from becoming a counseling friend for their teenage children include: (1) Body of knowledge as parents lack knowledge and understanding in the use of counseling service system; (2) Parents' skills in employing communication approaches to achieve counselor friend's relationship are lacking; (3) Thinking fragility in terms of thinking and changes in emotions and mindset, all of which affect teenage children. The needs to develop parents as a counselor friend include good communication skills, having mindfulness, and emotional control. Counselors' peaceful communication and teenage psychology are concepts to be employed in establishing parent as a counselor friend.

2)   Tisikkhā (the threefold learning) and Brahmavihāra (the four sublime states of mind) are Buddhist peaceful means conducive to the development of parents' skills in communicating with their teenage children. All of these are inner attributes for parents to have as a counselor friend in order to connect with themselves and their teenage children with compassion and understanding, as well as to be able to develop healthy relationships with family members.

3)    A body of knowledge obtained is a 2-day course based on the development process of parents as a counselor friend in order to promote peaceful families through Buddhist peaceful means: Module 1 on parents with the right mindset as a counselor; Module 2 on improving parents' comprehension of their role as a counselor friend; Module 3 on positive emotional management; Module 4 on parents’ communication skills as a counselor friend. A study revealed that the posttest of parents as counselor friends is higher than the pretest with a statistical significance of 0.05 and a t-test of 7.83. The study findings are integrated to adapt to the context and needs of developing parents as a counselor friend.

The study produced a body of knowledge known as the '3A model' or '3A Power Parents model,' which includes four skills in developing parents as a counselor friend.