Even in childhood there are stresses and challenges to overcome and you won’t always be able to rescue your child from every adversity they face. In fact, it’s probably beneficial that you don’t, as it’s important for kids to learn to stand on their own two feet and figure out how to navigate obstacles independently. Raising your child to be resilient will help them take life’s challenges in their stride. For some tips on how to do this, take a look at the following advice from an independent school in Surrey.
Coping Mechanisms
Teaching your child to manage their emotions will help them become more resilient in moments of difficulty. Explain to your child that all emotions are acceptable. Anger, sadness and frustration are perfectly normal. You can then help them learn to manage their emotions by introducing certain techniques. Breathing exercises help to regulate heart rate and provide a distraction from the cause of the intense emotion. Instruct your child to breathe slowly and count to 20 whenever they feel themselves losing control of their emotional state. They will be able to come back to this method when they need it, to help them remain calm under pressure.
Allow Them To Fail
It is natural to want to see your child succeed at everything they do, but it’s also important to teach your children how to handle failure. Although children will love to win every board game you play with them or to beat you in every race, they will find it much more difficult to accept failure in the future if they have only ever been used to winning. It is important to let your child fail at certain games or tasks because they will learn to pick themselves up after the loss and try again. Failure can be a prompt to try harder or to think a little deeper to complete a challenge, and their self-esteem will be higher if they have had to put in effort to achieve a goal.
Praise Progress
It is important to support your child and remain positive throughout tasks they find difficult. We all have different strengths and weaknesses, and your child won’t be a natural at everything they attempt. Teaching them to enjoy the process of learning and progression will take the pressure off their ultimate success, encouraging them to keep trying. If your child struggles with maths, don’t focus on whether or not they get it right every time, but look for small indications of progression and celebrate these. If your child is on a sports team, don’t focus on whether they make the starting line-up or score a goal, instead highlight the things they did well and remind them of the improvements they have made. Learning to stick at tasks they find difficult is a key part of resilience, and much easier if they learn to enjoy the process.
Laura x