Helping Your Child Master Resilience
Grit, moxie, tenacity, perseverance! Doggedness, spirit, spunk!
Those are some fierce words! So what the heck do they mean? And why are they crucial for your child’s growth and development?
Grit is sticking with something even when you don't want to.
Life’s hard. There will be times when you'll want to give up. You certainly don’t feel like slogging through the mud on most days. But you know what? Magic happens when you stick to something.
Breakthroughs occur when you persevere!
Unicorns appear for you to ride over rainbows! Ain’t nothin’ but sunflowers & sparkles if you can only have a little faith…your breakthrough is near!
Okay…maybe not real unicorns…but proverbial ones for sure!
If you want your child to be more confident and class A...teach them about grit. They’ll be able to face challenges with less frustration and more courage. They’ll tackle tough issues and thrive!
Resilience
Let’s face it. While we’d all love for our child to live a trauma-free life, inevitably they will experience problems, loss and crisis. Since we know this is the case, let’s start by equipping them with the tools they need to face these issues head on! We want them to come out stronger, wiser and more powerful in the midst of life’s challenges.
Mastering resilience will insure they can defy defeat! With your guidance, they'll know there's no obstacle they can’t take head on.
Imagine that your son Johnny has a goldfish. He LOVES this fish. He saved his own money to go to the fair and win the little guy in a game he’s been trying for years to conquer. Johnny takes immaculate care of his fish, feeding it every morning and making sure to clean its tank and balance the PH once a week. He even practices his sax in the same room as the goldfish so the fish won’t get lonely.
Then one day, as goldfish do, the goldfish goes to the big fish tank in the sky. You come in to get Johnny’s laundry and you find his little buddy belly up!! What do you do!?
You could rush to the pet store and try to replace his friend with a perfect replica. Maybe he wouldn’t notice?! You could save him the heartache of losing his fishy compadre!Or….you could use this experience as a chance to teach Johnny about resilience.
Adult life can be extremely challenging, so we must pay close attention not to dismiss our children’s problems as insignificant or trivial. We can’t be over-protective and must model appropriate responses and emotions through the way we approach difficulties in our own lives.
These opportunities present themselves all the time. If we are on top of our parenting game, we can be proactive in using these experiences to teach our children to grow into confident, self-reliant adults.
“What helps you persevere is your resilience and commitment.”― Roy T. Bennett
Inner Strengths
So what do we need to know as parents who want to build resilient children?
We need to work on our kids’ ‘inside’ worlds & ‘outside’ worlds.
Outside factors include things like having positive relationship with caring role models. Our children need to have supportive adults and also community-oriented relationships like volunteer outreach or support programs for children after school.
But where we can really shine as parents and teachers, is working on their ‘inside’ factors.
Some examples of the strengths we want to work on cultivating in our children are; self control, growth mindset thinking skills, confidence, positivity and responsibility.
All of these skill-sets will help our kids to truly embody resilience and grit!!
Where The Magic Happens
Have you ever played any of the Mario Brothers games as a kid (or maybe as an adult - hehe)? Those games are awesome examples of resilience, grit & determination! Luigi & Mario battle the odds with the help of their friends to save countries, grow strong, get rich…and best of all, save Princess Peach!
No matter how many times one of those superhero brothers would fall into lava, get defeated by Bowser’s forces or lose all their superpowers, they never quit trying! They were going to free the princess & save the Mushroom Kingdom…no matter what!
What a stupendous life lesson! When life gives you lemons, there really is no other option than to make lemonade… and lemon tarts and lemon cream pie and all the other sweet lemon-based things you can think of! The only time you run out of chances is when you quit trying.
So teach your kiddos that no matter what gets thrown at them, they always have the option to choose to keep going when the going gets tough.
Magic really does happen when we commit to persevering through adversary.
“Persistence and resilience only come from having been given the chance to work through difficult problems.” -- Margaret Thatcher
Teaching Your Child To Master Resilience
Xo Lisa oX
TL;DR
Read the full post on how to teach your kids to master resilience
Catch up by watching the video - Teaching Your Child To Master Resilience
