BUILDING RESILIENCE

One of our values here at St Joseph’s is ‘I am resilient’. During the year students will participate in a variety of learning experiences to develop their understanding of and demonstrate resilience.  When we talk about resilience, we are talking about a child’s ability to cope with ups and downs, and bounce back from the challenges they experience during the day.  Building resilience helps children not only to deal with current difficulties that are a part of everyday life, but also to develop the basic skills and habits that will help them deal with challenges later in life.  A resilient child recovers from challenges, but they’ve learned to do more than that. They actually hold a different mindset. A mindset of resiliency that deeply believes: I am not my mistakes, I can try again, things will get better, and I am not alone. 

Resilience is important for children’s mental health. Children with greater resilience are better able to manage stress, which is a common response to difficult events. Stress is a risk factor for mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression, if the level of stress is severe or ongoing.  Being resilient is not always about feeling better or having fewer emotional reactions. It is about managing and responding to emotions in a healthy and positive way.

Some of things that help build resilience are:

• Mindset – Often children feel completely destroyed after failing a test or not making a sports team. If they learn that within them is a power to overcome any obstacle, they can pick themselves up and move forward. It is an important lesson, like the Japanese proverb, “Fall seven times, get up eight.” So instead of saying, “I failed. I am a failure,” a child with growing resilience would say, “I failed. I can try again. I have what it takes.” They can learn to endure disappointment and not get devastated by it.
• Connect – Children who grow resilience are connected to other people. Boys and girls that feel down on their luck–“bad things always happen to me,” aren’t displaying a sense of resilience and aren't well supported. They're alone most of the time. But children that have authentic relationships and can genuinely talk to someone that is nonjudgmental when mistakes happen can grow resilience. They learn that they aren’t their mistakes and that failure is a necessary step toward success. 

Mental wellness and resilience is something we all can work on, just like our physical health. Look for opportunities to build your children’s capacity to deal with life’s ups and downs, learn from mistakes and have a robust sense of their own abilities.  Promoting mental wellness and resilience is key for building strong stable young adults.

Here's another brain teaser to end the week...

How many blocks are in this tower?