How to Raise a Resilient Child – Working on resilience is key for raising a strong and independent child. It’s how they respond to failure and get back up. There will be many situations where things don’t go their way, and you will need to guide them through.
In this post we share guidance from a private school in Surrey on how to deal with these sorts of situations and build resilience.
Raise a Resilient Child – Rebuild Their Confidence
After a step back, it’s likely that your child’s confidence may have taken a hit. They may not have the same motivation that they once did so you will need to work on building their confidence. They will need words of encouragement and positive reinforcement.
Raise a Resilient Child – The Way That You Deal with Mistakes
Mistakes are okay and a part of life. It’s how we respond to them that matters. Instilling this mindset can help children to deal with setbacks and not give up when things go wrong. A way that you can do this is focusing on silver linings, any opportunities, or learnings that they’ve been able to gain as a result of things not going to plan.
Raise a Resilient Child – Recognise When They’re Ready
While of course it’s important for children to pick themselves up after challenging situations, you must be mindful of whether your child’s ready to. If they try again too soon, they may not have a good enough chance to succeed which can be more harmful long term.
Raise a Resilient Child – Be Honest
This point follows on from the last. You must be honest with children as otherwise you risk breaking their trust and damaging their self-esteem. When encouraging them to try again, be careful that you don’t create false hope and a false sense of security when you know they’re not ready. Instead, be realistic and honest.
Raise a Resilient Child – Model Resilience
As their parents you play an incredibly important role in your child’s life. Children look to their parents as role models so it’s important that you display positive behaviours and mindsets. Going back to before, you should look at the way you frame things and your overall outlook. Pessimism can easily rub off on children and is something to be weary of.
To wrap up the advice we’ve shared, it’s important to be supportive, but also honest and realistic with children. Experience is also key. Going through failure teaches children how to respond, so you will need to let your child experience difficulties and let them make their own mistakes.
*Collaborative post