Teaching children to become resilient to adversity.

Resilience is the ability of a person to balance back “like a ball” when he/she feels disappointed, frustrated or oppressed. Building resilience is a process of nurturing a belief that a person is capable of overcoming difficulties and learning to become empathetic and compassionate to others who may be facing similar situations. One of the ways to foster resilience is to encourage a “growth mindset”, an attitude of embracing challenges, hard work and mistakes as opportunities to develop person’s problem-solving capacity, an effective way to respond to his/her world. Problem-solving routine: 1. Identify the problem. 2. Brainstorm three ways three ways to handle it. 3. Choose one way to try and decide on a backup plan. 4. Try the strategy. 5. Evaluate how well the strategy worked. 6. If it did not work very well, try the next one. 7. Enjoy your new confidence. Practice is a process of getting better at reaching one’s goal to learn something new.
P patience, play, purpose, preparation, progress, process, perseverance, power of prayer, provision.
R resilience, reminder, respect, recovery, response, routine, rest.
A attitude, activity, adversity, “Aha”-moments.
C choice, challenge is a chance, capability, confront-a-problem, creativity.
T time, trying hard, temperament.
I independence, intelligence.
C Connection, “Can do”, confidence, courage, collaboration, comfort.
E evaluation, effort-paid-off, enjoyment, eagle-wings, equipped- for-life, energy

Joyce Meyer, a teacher who lived through a lot of abuse as a child, overcame her negative mindset and now empowers people to live victorious lives said: “Preparation equips us to act confidently.”
“Discipline is required any time you are forming a new habit.”
“Sometimes the bitter experiences we endure are the best teachers we have in life.”
“We should learn from our mistakes, because by doing so, they can add value to our lives.”
“Self-doubt is fear-fear that we will make mistakes.”
“Practice trusting yourself rather than doubting yourself.”
“You do not have to feel confident to be confident.”

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884- 1962), a leading woman politician said:
“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, “I lived through this horror; I can take next thing that comes along.” You must do the thing you think you cannot do. No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”

References:
Brooks R., Goldstein S. 2002. Nurturing Resilience in Our Children. Chicago: Contemporary Books.
Dweck, C. 2006. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York: Ballantine.
TYC. Teaching Young Children/preschool. Vol. 5 N 3.
Meyer J. 2011. The Confident Woman. New York: Faith Words.