Resilience is all about coping with life's up and downs; how to bounce back and to understand that sometimes life is challenging. Learning h
ow to be resilient is a life skill and if learnt as a child, can help throughout the teenage years and into adulthood.
Challenges that children often experience are losing a loved one, changing schools, divorcing parents and moving homes. If children have developed resilience they are able to manage set backs, keep stress to a minimum, which ultimately is good for their mental health.
Here are a few ideas on how to build resilience:
Spend quality time with your children. Children who feel loved and supported develop emotional strength.
Ensure that your children eat well, exercise and get enough sleep.
Talk about feelings so that children learn to share worries and fears with trusted adults.
Instead of you rushing in to solve a problem, let your child try to solve it first. This gives them confidence.
Let children know they can't control everything, but they can control how they react to things.
Help children to know we all face problems and that things can always be resolved.
Try to normalise setbacks, these things happen.
Instil a positive attitude; you are good enough, you are capable, you have people who care about you, you can solve this, you can deal with this.
Resilient children tend to feel connected to the people around them, they are more confident, they feel more in control and they are not frightened to try new things. Isn't that what we want for all our children?
Mrs H