DEVELOPING RESILIENCE
Building Emotional Resilience in Children Thinking about mental health and well-being
Building emotional resilience is crucial for children to thrive in today’s fast-changing world. The dictionary definition of resilience is the ability to adapt to change, recover from difficulties and keep going in times of adversity. Yet, mental resilience seems to be in somewhat short supply, as evidenced by the 2023 NHS Digital Report, which found that one in six children aged seven to sixteen, and one in four aged seventeen to nineteen, are experiencing mental health issues. A report from the Resolution Foundation (February 2024) found that 17% of graduates are not entering the workforce because of poor mental health and the numbers are higher for those who achieve lower levels of education. At The Wellbeing Hub, we believe that taking a proactive, preventative approach to mental health is essential if our children are to fulfil their potential in all areas of life. As parents and
teachers there is so much we can do to build children’s self-esteem, self-efficacy, self-awareness and self-management – the four pillars of resilience. 1. Self-Esteem is our core sense of having value. If you are unsure about your child’s selfesteem, listen to how they talk to and about themselves. Do they put themselves down or underestimate their capabilities? 2. Self-Efficacy is our confidence in our competence. It is believing that we are capable of setting and achieving tasks and goals. If self-esteem is about being, self-efficacy is about doing. When we have low self-efficacy, we avoid tasks and don’t make the most of opportunities.
emotions. It is worth cultivating because multiple studies show that our EQ is a far better predictor of success in all areas of life than our IQ. Here are six practical tips for building these skills:
Love them for who they are, not what they do: children need to
be loved simply for being, not just when they perform well or meet our expectations. This is unconditional love, which gives children a sense of safety and helps them love themselves.
3. Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is
our ability to use our emotions to inform our thinking, and our thinking to manage our EDUCATION CHOICES MAGAZINE | AUT UM N 2024 | 25
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