Building resilience can be less straightforward than teaching your kids how to develop healthy eating habits or how to handle “stranger danger.” The American Psychological Association points to these 10 steps that parents can take to foster resilience in children of all ages.
Make connections
Having a network of family members, school leaders, friends and other reliable people can help a child feel confident in her ability to overcome struggles.
Encourage your child to help others
Helplessness is the opposite of resiliency, so empower your child to help others as a way to show that he is capable of helping himself if needed.
Have a routine
Having a level of predictability in the day-to-day course of life can help children feel secure, especially at younger ages.
Teach children to take a break
Kids worry more than many people realize, whether about school, relationships or current events. Teach your child from a young age how to temporarily push aside their worries in favor of fun outlets such as dancing, drawing or playing sports.
Teach — and demonstrate — self-care
To be able to overcome challenges, kids need to care for their physical, mental and emotional needs.
Focus on goals
Help your child set achievable goals and celebrate her progress toward achieving them.
Nurture self-love
Resilient kids have confidence and part of that is having a positive relationship with themselves. To build this, point out the children’s strengths and encourage them to celebrate themselves.
Instill hope
In order to get through the tough times, children need to be able to keep things in perspective and understand that the way they’re feeling is only temporary.
Foster self-discovery
After your child deals with a difficult situation, ask him to reflect on what he learned.
Normalize change
A lot of adversity involves change, so teach kids that changes — from changing friends to dealing with death — are an expected and normal part of life.
Adapted from:
http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/resilience.aspx