Resiliency, maybe you’ve heard of it? It’s one of the more recent buzzwords in child development. The thinking is that we can teach our children to recover quickly from difficulties as they cope with stressful situations. There’s no better time for real talk about how to keep going when things aren’t running smoothly than right now.
What do resilient children look like? They have supportive relationships with at least one reliable adult, are self-aware about their emotions, and have confidence that they can handle different situations. Children can learn a lot about resilience from the characters in their favorite books and movies. Reading stories can teach us that being resilient means being flexible or vulnerable enough to bend, but not to break.
Remember: this is a great time to take a breath while continuing to be gracious and generous with ourselves and others.
Special note: Dealing with the loss of a loved one is perhaps one of the hardest times when resilience comes in to play. In case the pandemic has brought the difficult death discussion to your house, here is some expert advice from the Fred Rogers Center.
