Parenting Session

Theme: Resilience building and enhancement

March 20 Parenting is the process of rearing a child’s physical as well as mental health. It is something that we learn throughout our lives because it isn’t a defined process; it’s a process that develops us as human beings. One quality that every parent should teach their child for the overall development of his personality is resilience. Resilience is a child’s ability to cope with the ups and downs of his life and how he tackles the challenges he experiences during childhood. J.K. Rowling gave her 1^st Harry Potter book 12 times to 12 different publishers before someone finally agreed to publish it. This adversity of getting her book published came upon her and she came out of it and she grew, so this is what resilience is about i.e., getting out of adversity. It is about how a child reacts when he has to move on from one city to another, from one home to another. How he copes up with the death of a loved one, or adapting to a new classroom for say today’s online classroom, or even coping up with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. We all go through similar kinds of issues at some time in our life, but the point is how we get out of it and how we move on which is what we need to teach our children. In schools, teachers and counselors work together for the healthy growth of the children and teach them about resilience and how to be resilient. Parents play a vital role in building resilience as building resilience is something we should start at the very young age of the child. To thrive through all these difficult situations, your child needs to be resilient. One should focus upon the 6Cs of building resilience. They are :

• Confidence – Building confidence can be done by praising the child and by simply appreciating them.
• Competence – One can be competent only if given a chance, you can enhance competence by providing opportunities and by setting short-term goals.
• Connectivity – A resilient child often feels a strong bond with friends, parents, family members, teachers, and caregivers. You can be more connected with your child by giving them time, by optimum parental control, and also by reciprocating them.
• Contributions – People who are resilient have one thing in common i.e. they believe their actions make a difference. One can enhance the contributions of the child by asking them to do household chores, social services and by focusing on their effort rather than on their results.
• Coping – Coping is how your child reacts to stressors and is able to manage their emotions when they face adversity. Coping is enhanced by teaching children problem-solving skills and by clearing their boundaries so that they get exposed to any problematic situation.
• Control – It is the ability of your child to manage his emotions and behave in accordance with the demands of the situation. One must help their child practice control by making them perform calming exercises, meditation and teaching them mindfulness.

  By building these characteristics of resilience and enhancing them a parent can help his child in developing various skills to fight any difficulty of his life. SKYworld School Panchkula (Parenting session on 20th March)