How many times have you told your child life isn’t fair? It may have been when your daughter didn’t make a sports team or when your son didn’t get recommended for the honors math class.
Or more recently, has your child had trouble adjusting to our new normal resulting from COVID-19 or is he/she having difficulty understanding/coping with tragic acts of racism? If your answers aren’t a resounding yes, keep reading.
Merriam-Webster defines resilience as “the ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change.”
After Mike died, I constantly worried about my kids. So, I attended a Parenting While Grieving Educational Series at the Children’s Room. The facilitators discussed strategies focused on building resilience in children. And one night it occurred to me: the information is applicable to all children, not just the ones who lost a parent.
As a result, I decided to create a class modeled after that series. So, with the help of two licensed social workers, we went to work and developed a curriculum. Now, we need eight participants to pilot the class!
It will be a six-week series starting on Wednesday, September 16 from 7:00 – 8:15 p.m. The cost will be $65 per person. We don’t know what our lives will be like then so we’ll either meet in Hopkinton, via Zoom, or a combination of both.
About Raising Resilient Kids
Raising Resilient Kids is an educational series for parents who want to ensure their child can positively and productively overcome life’s obstacles.
The series will highlight the essential role obstacles play in children’s development. The facilitators will discourage parents from trying to “fix problems.”
Instead, we’ll discuss specific behaviors, thoughts, and actions to help children cope with their feelings in a specific situation. These strategies can then be used to help deal with similar feelings in the future.
In this six-week series, we’ll explore the following topics:
- The definition of resilience and resilience factors and strategies
- Ways to build resilience
- Learning from the past
- Sensitive listening/responding
- Sensitive expressing
- Staying flexible and places to look for help
Each class focuses on a topic (outlined above). The facilitators will provide time for problem-solving and group discussions. Participants can support each other, share lessons-learned, discuss experiences, and learn from one another.
Why Is It Important for Your Child To Be Resilient?
- 1 in 7 school-aged children experience mental health problems.
- 65% of adolescents will not actively seek help for mental health issues.
Academic, sports, and social pressures are higher than ever before. For example, social media has changed the way children communicate. This can negatively impact children’s confidence and perceptions of themselves.
In next week’s blog post, we’ll highlight the facilitators. Please contact us immediately if you’re interested in participating in this pilot course.