Life storytelling is a key method for developing the self, and family storytelling is an important setting for parents and adolescents to jointly make sense of adolescent experiences. Early adolescence is a key time for building a clearer sense of self. We studied mother scaffolding and adolescent meaning-making as adolescents recounted turning points in their lives. We recruited 30 mother-adolescent dyads (adolescent M[subscript age] = 12.8 years; 53.3% boys; 76.7% White). Adolescents were video-recorded sharing a life story about an important turning point in life with mothers. Adolescents also completed self-reports about family knowledge, attachment security, identity development, and well-being. Forms of mother scaffolding and adolescent meaning-making were correlated, and both scaffolding and meaning-making were correlated with adolescents' reports about their development. Findings reinforce the continued importance of parental support and growing importance of deep reasoning in early adolescence, as youth are finding their place in the world.