Building Resilience in ChildrenBy: Michelle Villegas

Resilience can be thought of as our ability to bounce back, or even grow, in the face of pressures and threats

What is Resilience ?

The capacity to have courage The motivation to move forward The power to stay centered The awareness of knowing themselves The gift of laughter The ability to bounce back The potential of showing promise The capacity to ask for help The tenacity to accomplish goals The willingness to share feelings The capability to connect with others The inspiration to give back ( Linda Goldman, 2004)

Signs of a Resilient Child

Competence: Help your child focus on their individual

strengths. Empowering your child to make decisions Be mindful that your desire to protect your

child doesn’t mistakenly send the message that you don’t think they are competent to handle situations

Seven C’s of ResilienceBy: Dr. Ginsburgh, M.D., MS Ed, FAAP

Clearly expressing the qualities such as fairness, kindness, persistence, and integrity

Authentic praise: praising honestly about specific achievements

Focus on the best in each child so that he or she can see that, as well

Confidence

Building a sense of physical safety and emotional security within your home.

Allowing the expression of emotions, so that kids will feel comfortable reaching out during difficult times

Foster healthy relationships that will reinforce positive messages

Connection

Demonstrate how behaviors impact others Help your child recognize him/herself as a

caring person Demonstrate the importance of community

Character

Stress the importance of serving others by modeling generosity

Creating opportunities for each child to contribute in some specific way

Contribution

Modeling effective coping on a consistent basis

Guiding the child to develop positive coping strategies

Coping

Help your child understand that discipline is about guiding and teaching

Teach children that about the impact of choices and actions

Control

To overcome adversities, children draw from three sources of resilience :

I HAVE I AM I CAN

Three Resources of Resilience

People around me I trust and who love me, no matter what

People who set limits for me so I know when to stop before there is danger or trouble

People who show me how to do things right by the way they do things

People who want me to learn to do things on my own

People who help me when I am sick, in danger or need to learn

I HAVE…

A person people can like and love Glad to do nice things for others and show my

concern Respectful of myself and others Willing to be responsible for what I do

I AM

Talk to others about things that bother or frighten me

Find ways to solve problems that I face Control myself when I feel like doing

something not right or dangerous Figure out when it is a good time to talk to

someone or to take action Find someone to help me when I need it (International Resilience Project)

I CAN…

Define Resiliency Create a dialogue (books, quotes, movies) Share a resilient role model Create a resilient book or coping book Discuss the resilience inventory Draw resiliency: Draw a representation of

what resiliency looks like/feels like inside of you

Building Resilience at Home

Identify a difficult time where they used strength and courage to make it through. Explain that is an example of resiliency. Help them identify these attributes and relate them to present and future uses.

Discuss a time in your life when you felt you where resilient. How did people respond? What did they say? How did that make you feel? How does it feel now? Is there anything you wish others had done? Can you use what you learned from this experience now? (Linda Goldman. 2004)

Resilience Inventory

Ginsburg, Kenneth (2011). A Parent’s Guide to Building Resilience in Children and Teens: Giving Your Child Roots and Wings, American Association of Pediatrics

Goldman, Linda (2004). Raising Our Children to Be Resilient: A Guide to Helping Children Cope with Trauma in Today's World, Routledge

Nan Henderson: www.resiliency.com

References

www.centerforresilientchildren.org/preschool/assessments-resources

Resilience Project: internationalresilience.org

References