A resilient child is a happier child.
Developing the capacity of your children to navigate their way to wellbeing or their ability to bounce back from failure provides them with skills that they can use throughout their lives to enhance their wellbeing.
These daily actions will support you in developing your child’s capacity for resilience:
❏ Compliment your child regarding one of their strengths.
❏ Empower your child to make one or two decisions.
❏ Support your child in feeling competent to handle things.
❏ Avoid comparisons between your child and others.
❏ Focus on the best in your child’s behavior and speech.
❏ Recognize and acknowledge desired behavior (when your child says or does something well).
❏ Actively listen when your child reaches out to share something.
Allow the expression of all emotions (including the ones that are typically considered as negative). Help them identify each emotion and find positive ways to express it.
❏ Address conflict openly, kindly, and respectfully with the intention to resolve it together.
❏ Demonstrate resilient behavior by performing one self-care ritual.
❏ Encourage positive behavior instead of trying to control or stop the negative behavior.
❏ Show your child that it’s okay to ask for help.
❏ Engage in creative play with your child.
❏ Express trust in your child’s capacity to cope with confusion, fear, or worry.
Our world today is too focused on competency and not the strength of character it takes to achieve. Let's take a sticker at swimming does the child receive it for just attending the lesson or doing great Freestyle or does the child achieve it for the courage it takes to have a go at floating on their back for the first time.
We have introduced our Strength of Character certificates to celebrate the the childs strength. Let's stop focusing on what they can't do and start focusing what they can do!
This week is Resilience because for a child to have resilience means they have "the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness" this in turn builds confidence and a happier child.
This week pick one thing off the list daily to practice at home and watch the results. We would love to hear about them on our Empowering our kids facebook page!
To learn more about building confidence and resilience in your child follow our page or go to the website and check out our blogs.