In learning about resilience, we often face stages of adversity that will test our skills in managing these elements of stress and pressure. Showing your child early on how to face these instances will gear your child up for a range of issues they’re bound to face later on in life and help them to become a more resilient child.
Aside from relationship building, understanding how to solve problems, and doing due diligence, among other key skills children will pick up throughout their time in school, there are also a range of life skills to consider. Things that happen outside of school, like arguments, family troubles, and even hanging around in a playground can test a child’s resilience.
It’s therefore vital to show your child a range of ways to handle adversity, and ways of building a child’s resilience that factor in a number of situations. We enlisted the help of one of the best sixth forms in North London to show us some top tips to raising a resilient child.
Set goals that test a child’s bravery
Resilience is all about your child knowing what their limits could be and what they want to achieve from them. Allowing them to set personal goals that push them out of their comfort zone, but can be manageable, is a good way of testing their skills. A child is able to look at their goals and find ways to reach them by managing their patience, their discipline and their problem solving skills.
Their goal might be to do better in the next maths exam, which will require your child to spend one hour an evening on revision and practice. Your child may struggle with this task at first depending on how they manage tasks ordinarily, with which you can slowly work towards this goal over time. Start with 20 minutes a day on maths questions before working up to an hour each week. Be a part of your child’s revision plan to help them with tough questions, homework and other maths problems.
Show your child how to learn from their mistakes
A child is not going to really know all the ins and outs from life, of course. They will learn these from the mistakes they make throughout their life. Each time your child makes a mistake they may become full of emotion, or overwhelmed and facing a lot of pressure. It may also happen at school where you’re not able to directly support them until they’re at home.
Whatever the case, sit down with your child and show them the mistake they made and what they can learn from it. Did they snatch something from a friend and upset them? Did they not do as well in a spelling contest as they thought they would? Within the context you can direct your child to ways in which they can learn from what they’ve done and how they can improve for next time.
Motivate your child through a challenge
A child is more likely to go through with something if they have some backing behind them. This is where you come in to help them. Showing them that facing a challenge can give them not only awareness of how well they can manage, but also shows your child what skills they already have and how well they use them.
Present your child with strategies and methods to help them along the way to ease them into a situation, and let them take charge. Letting them look at a challenge in their own way helps them learn what they themselves are capable of without needing direct support from their peers. This also helps them manage their own independence.
Last Updated on 2 years by Lavania Oluban