How To Shift Your Child's Thinking

Children are not born with resilience. It’s up to the good ol’ parental unit to teach them all they need to know about how to pull themselves up by the bootstraps and make lemonade out of lemons.

Not only lemonade…but lemon meringue! And lemon drops! And lemon pudding! Whoever said lemons were a bad thing!

We all want superhero children who can shift their thinking from negative to positive in the blink of an eye, right?

Here are some great tools to help you do just that!

Power Grabbing Words

A while ago I wrote about the power of the word ‘yet’…and boy is it ever powerful! It’s a superhero word if I’ve ever heard one!

But not all words are superpower worthy words.

There are some words that can actually steal your power!! What’s that you say!? Steal your power!?

That’s right!

Do you remember in the Mario Brothers games how you could go from Big Mario to Itty Bitty Mario just from encountering danger?

Well there are words that can take you from hero to zero…and fast!

When you hear these words, you know that danger is near!

I can’t. I won’t. I stink. I don’t know how to. I’ll never be able to do it.

Many times when we run into an inevitable issue in our lives, we feel doomed or defeated. It’s easy to feel our super powers deflating fast whenever we encounter dilemmas. Besides our emotions, some clues to when we’re triggered are the WORDS we hear or say in these situations. Words like ‘can’t’ or ‘won’t’ can be turned into ‘can’ and ‘will’!

This is the sort of stuff that gives you your hero wings! If you think of your child’s favourite hero… Who comes to mind? Did that hero use negative, power stealing speech? I’d bet they didn’t!

Part of what makes a hero is their power to rise above and identify when they need to activate their resilience!

Here’s an awesome video that I absolutely love! It’s about building resilience in our children when they face a problem.

We all need an Eve in our lives! She’s so perky, positive and helpful! A real super-hero for sure. Be Eve for your kiddos!

When You Wish Upon A Star

All the wishing in the world won’t bring you wealth…or anything else for that matter!In order to truly experience resilience we need to be proactive about reclaiming our power. Our power is in our words, thoughts and actions!

Teaching your child that they are SO powerful that they can change the words ‘I wish I could…’ into ‘I WILL’ and actually make that into a reality is awesome sauce!

For example, let’s say you take your child to the Symphony Orchestra. Your daughter exclaims, ‘I wish I could play the cello like the beautiful woman in the flowing silk dress! I’d never be able to do that. I suck at playing instruments.’

This is a perfect time to teach her about resilience.

1.Identify the Perceived Problem

In this case, she thinks she can never have the level of skill of the woman she saw performing.

2. Find a Solution

Explain to your child that being able to play an instrument at that level takes many hours of dedication and practice, but if it’s something she really wants to do, she can absolutely do it and when she commits, she has your support!

3. Make a Plan

Help her find a teacher to take the first steps on her journey. If you can’t afford a cello right away, have her research an affordable place to rent one or a way to borrow one (problem solving). Set a schedule for practise that isn’t too strenuous at first. Encourage her at each step!

4. Stay Positive

No matter what, stay positive! Whatever obstacles we face, we can surmount them and move past them with great strength. It's not about wishing..it's about growing, improving and doing. And doing it with a positive attitude and a can-do mindset.Teach your children that they CAN & they WILL overcome and create what they want in their lives! ?