Young people live up or down to expectations we set for them. They need adults who believe in them unconditionally and hold them to the high expectations of being compassionate, generous, and creative.
During our recent board break tournament I noticed how some of our participants would react when not winning the gold medal. Some were okay with it and were just excited to participate in an exciting event while others would get upset, angry or just breakdown and have an outright tantrum.
Observing the reactions, negative and positive, had me consider what we can do to help our children develop ability to be emotionally resilient.
Like mental toughness, resiliency (physical, mental or emotional) is a skill that must be trained on purpose. But of the three, emotional resiliency is the toughest one to train. Emotional resiliency takes time, patience and courage to train and develop. Below is my number one suggestion for those of you that would like to build emotional resilience in your children.
# 1 – BE AWARE
Be Aware of the negative emotional reaction. Stay calm and demonstrate your own emotional resilience. Then seek to understand the root emotion beneath it (fear, jealousy, shame, self-esteem, etc.) Then help your child process and channel their energy in a positive way as opposed to destructive.
Below is a link to an article that gives you the 7 C’s essential building blocks of resilience
http://www.fosteringresilience.com/7cs_parents.php
