Building RESILIENCE in Your Children

*RESILIENCE means to be able to recover or "bounce back" easily from an occurrence or misfortune,

hardship, or suffering.

The American Psychological Association recommends 10 Guidelines for

Building Resilience in Children and Teens:

1) Make Connections

-Teach your child how to be a friend, show empathy, and include others

-Make connections with your culture and traditions

-Build a strong family network for support through disappointments and difficult times

2) Help Your Child By Having Him/Her Help Others

-Empowerment comes through helping others

-Engage in age-appropriate volunteer work

-Provide a family-helping job at home

3) Maintain a Daily Routine

-Sticking to a routine provides comfort and structure

-Encourage children to have their own routine at home

4) Take a Break

-Encourage children to keep focus off of their worries

-Be aware of those things that cause "worries" in your children

-Protect children from adult conversation and adult "worries"

-Provide creative time during school day and at home

5) Teach Your Child Self-Care

-Make yourself a GOOD EXAMPLE in everything

-Make time to have FUN

- Don't over-schedule

6) Move Toward Your Goals

-Set realistic goals, that can be attained, one step at a time

-Provide praise and acknowledge accomplishments for what

has been achieved

-At school, break assignments down into small, achievable parts

7) Nurture Positive Self-View

-Praise children for the manner in which hardships have been

handled positively in the past

- Help to build strength from past challenges

- Help your child to learn to make appropriate decisions

-Teach your child to appreciate the humor in life and the ability to laugh at one's self

-At school, help children see how individual accomplishments

can contribute to the well-being of the whole class

8) Keep Things in Perspective and Maintain a Hopeful Outlook

-Help your child to look at situation in a broader context and long-term perspective

- Help them to realize the future beyond their current situation

-Maintain an optimistic and positive outlook to keep things going at the hardest times

-Help children to appreciate the good things in life (not materialistic)

-In school, use history to show that life moves on after bad events

9) Look for Opportunities for Self-Discovery

-Help your children to learn about themselves when facing difficult times, by talking with them and acknowledging their thoughts and feelings

-Discuss what has been learned or felt due to this experience

10) Accept That Change is Part of Living

-Change can be scary, so help with security during change

-Help them understand that change is part of life

As always, we are always available should you need additional strategies.