Tips to build emotional resilience in children

Building emotional resilience helps children to deal with day-to-day obstacles and challenges in life. Here are the five most effective tips to build emotional resilience in children.

When we talk about resilience, we're referring to a child's ability to cope with ups and downs as well as bounce back from the issues they encounter during childhood, such as moving houses, changing schools, studying for an exam, or dealing with the death of a loved one. Building resilience helps children to deal with day-to-day obstacles and also develop the fundamental abilities and habits that will help them deal with challenges later in life, during adolescence and adulthood. Additionally, they are better able to handle crises. Thankfully, emotional resilience is a skill that can be learned. In reality, it's a quality worth cultivating for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the way it may improve your life and reduce stress.

Tips to build emotional resilience in children (istockphoto)

Trinity Dang, Relationship and Family Counsellor and founder of Halcyon Counselling, suggested the 5 most effective tips to build emotional resilience in children in her recent Instagram post.

1. Quality Matters

Spend quality time with your children. Emotional strength develops as a result of feeling loved and encouraged. Have a daily connect time with your child. Spending quality time with your children does not have to be a huge undertaking, it can as simple as taking a few minutes each day to spend together without any distractions.

2. Have a conversation

Talk about feelings with your children so they may learn to communicate their worries and fears with the people they love. Listen to them patiently, answer their questions and never ignore what they say. Create a safe space between you and your children so that they can communicate anything easily with you.

3. Do not discourage

When children fail or are disappointed, it is crucial to recognise their efforts and encourage them to try again. Try to make them understand that failure is a part of life but what is more important is trying so that they will never feel scared to try anything due to the fear of failure.

4. Own your mistakes

Recognise and acknowledge your own mistakes to teach children that mistakes are important for learning and progress. Say sorry if you ever feel like you have unintentionally hurt your children or said something hurtful.

5. Be curious

If your child is having trouble solving a problem, use polite questioning to guide them in the right direction. Always acknowledge their curiosity rather than suppressing it.

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