Yvette Salvaris
Stress is something we all have to deal with no matter what our age. It is important that as adults we help children deal with stress and changes. Building resilience in children will help them cope with the ups and downs of life. Children can be exposed to many challenges in childhood. They may have to deal with family issues, friendship issues and school issues. The more we help children build up their resilience, the better it is their mental health. Resilience is a skill children will take with them into adulthood. Here are my top 3 tips for helping build resilience in children.
Independent children are resilient children.
In order to build resilience, children need to be taught independence and how to solve problems on their own. As hard as it is to see your child dealing with stress, children need to be exposed to it in order to develop their own problem solving skills. As a parent, it can be a normal reaction to jump in and help. Next time you see your child struggling with a stressful problem or situation, take a step back and encourage them to figure out their own way of dealing with the issue. You can provide support and be a sounding board for their ideas, but don’t jump in and solve the problem.
Risk taking
Children need to be encouraged to take health y risks. What is a healthy risk? It is an event that pushes a child to move out of their comfort zone but if the child is unsuccessful it will result in very little harm. There are some ways you can encourage a child to take a healthy risk. You could encourage your child to try something new, like a new sport or hobby. Another low risk activity could be to encourage them to make new friend by talking to someone in their class that they don’t know that well. If you can get your child to embrace health risk taking, you will be teaching them to move out of their comfort zone.
Mistakes are good
Think back to your last mistake you made. How did you deal with it? What did you learn from it? Chances are you dealt with it in a calm and logical way and you may have come away with some further knowledge of how not to get in to that same situation again. Its important that we teach children when they make a mistake to embrace it, and find the positive learning experience that comes from the mistake. This will help children develop a growth mindset . Its amazing what a child can learn from a mistake and how it can have a positive impact on their mental health and resilience.
Life can be hard and confusing at the best of times. Our experiences and how we deal with them is what helps us to cope with the rollercoaster. Children need to learn from an early age how to deal with stress and adults are the ones who need to help and encourage them to be independent thinkers and problem solvers. What Children learn now, will only help them later. So next time you see a child struggling, before you jump in and save the day, think about ways to approach the situation differently and let the child find their own way of dealing with it.
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