Developing resilience in children

These are worrying times. Regardless of whether you see lockdown as a bit of quiet time, or you’re struggling without meeting friends, there is plenty going on in the world for us to worry about. Most people I know have reduced watching news broadcast to a minimum, but even so there is no escaping the fact that we are in the midst of very difficult times.

For children this has been an especially strange time with learning moving from the classroom to the living room, no opportunities to play with friends, and even limited access to outdoor spaces.

There are ways however that we, as parents or as teachers, can help them develop their grit, determination and resilience by calling on the science of positive psychology – which when applied in schools is called positive education. During the last few years I have travelled throughout the UK working with teachers in bringing the skills and techniques of positive education to their classrooms, building on the amazing work they do in educating children for life, not just for exams.

While I cannot currently travel to them, this work has not stopped. Instead I’m using platforms such as this to reach out to schools to keep this important information flowing.  This gives me an added opportunity to reach parents in the same way, and share these skills with them directly.

This short video shows a wonderful technique for building resilience that works as well for adults as it does for children. It’s also fun to do as a class or family activity. Please feel free to share it with teachers and fellow parents you know. (It can also be found here on Youtube https://youtu.be/Q5aakXcbfkY)