Resilience and Adversity - should we seek to build resilience or remove the adversity for our students?

Children and adults can deal with hardships or unpleasant experiences that is adversity in different ways. For some children ‘bouncing back’ seems easy and for others small issues can have an impact that is difficult to overcome.

The good news is that resilience; doing well during or after an adverse event, or a period of adversity is not set and is something everyone can learn.

As parents, it is good to keep in mind that it is generally easier to build resilience than to prevent the adversity.  Beyond Blue suggests resilience can develop through the following everyday areas:

Educate – teach your child the meaning of resilience and the fact it can be built over time.

Build, strengthen and promote positive relationships – encourage empathy and opportunities to make friends and connections with others.

Focus on autonomy and responsibility – give age appropriate autonomy e.g. packing their own swimming gear or providing opportunities for your child to problem solve issues they are faced with at school. Don’t rush to solve the problem for them.

Focus on managing emotions - Help your child to put words to how they are feeling and how others may be feeling as well.

Create opportunities for personal challenge that may not initially bring success– encourage your child to take on every day managed risks e.g. running an errand or applying for a leadership role. 

For more strategies and information refer to Beyond Blue at https://resources.beyondblue.org.au/prism/file?token=BL/1810_A