The Road To Resilience

When parents are asked what they would like for their children, often the answer is that they would like their child to be happy. Unfortunately even the best intentioned parents can not guarantee eternal happiness for their children. Life is full of ups and downs and no matter how much we would like to wrap our children up in cotton wool and protect them, it isn’t really possible. Even if it were, it would surely be detrimental to their social and emotional development.

Whilst we cannot always ensure that our children will feel happy, another important goal for parents is that their child will feel confident enough to deal with the challenging times in their lives. All children will, at some time, have to face moments that require them to be able to cope and bounce back; to be resilient. It might be those first few days or weeks at childcare or school, perhaps moving house, dealing with someone who is bullying, meeting new friends or playing sport. For some children even the little challenges in life can be particularly difficult. As a parent, it is sometimes stressful dealing with a child who clings to you or who says “I can’t do it” or “I don’t have any friends”, and often we feel ill equipped to teach our children the strategies to be able to deal with moments such as these.

Much research has been conducted around the world to search for the factors that both contribute to children being at risk of feeling anxious, and also the resilience qualities that assist children to overcome challenges......