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Resiliency Resources for Parents

AN INTRODUCTION TO RESILIENCE

What is resilience and why is it important?

If life were an easy journey none of us would need resilience. But we all know that the "Road of Life" is full of unexpected twists and turns, detours and roadblocks.

Resilience is the ability to steer through these obstacles and keep going even when we feel like giving up. Resilience is not something we have or don’t have. It’s something we work on for our whole lives.

Over the years, we’ve learned from research and our own work with children and families that there are certain things we need to develop our resilience and keep it up along the way.

What do we need to travel the Road of Life with resilience?

When we drive a car, there are many things that work together. We need keys to start the car, gas to fuel it, skills to steer it, and directions to find our way safely.

Travelling the "Road of Life" with resilience is like this, too. Some of the things that help are inside us, like thinking skills and confidence. We call these inner strengths. Other things are outside us, like caring relationships, positive role models, and community supports. We call these outside supports.

These inner strengths and outside supports work together to support resilience just like driving safely involves many things working together (driving skill, directions, roads, traffic lights, etc.).

And just like a good driving instructor can help you become a better driver, caring relationships and positive role models help children develop their inner strengths.

Sometimes parents don’t realize how essential they are in helping their children develop resilience. You are your child’s most important role model.

      “Resilient parents = Resilient kids”

And, of course, learning how to help your child develop resilience helps you at the same time!

And to help you on your journey, we invite you to watch the two inspiring videos below. These parents use inner strengths and outside supports to keep up their resilience as they care for their children and deal with life's challenges. After viewing the videos, check out these tips on building your family's resilience.