Resiliency Skills & Kids: Being Resilient Can Provide Protections Against the Stresses of Growing Up by Pepi Silverman

Being a kid involves playing, learning and growing, but that doesn’t mean that our children aren’t faced with experiences of stress. As children, they encounter many complex situations that they are developmentally ill equipped to manage without assistance. Whether it is as simple as new classroom at the start of the year, a change in the family, an encounter with a bully or an even more traumatic experience with abuse, the ability to thrive against these challenges can be built with the development of resiliency skills. The good news is that resilience skills can be learned with these suggestions: 

• Kids are “helped” by helping others.
• Teach self-care.
• Accept that change is an ongoing part of life.
• Support a “hopeful” outlook.
• Create opportunities for self discovery.

By helping kids to develop resiliency skills, they will be prepared for an ever changing future.