Resilience helps our kids and teens to stay calm and strong when experiencing stress and anxiety, for example when they feel misjudged, mistreated, disrespected, misunderstood, abused, or bullied, etc. Resilience is something we get better and stronger using the more we persist and practice using it!

Low resilience in kids and teens can be expressed as:

Emotional outbursts, increased irritability, intolerance & rebelliousness

Sleep disturbances including insomnia & nightmares

Withdrawal or avoidance from social situations & activities

Struggles with school; motivation, concentration & memory

Frequent head or stomachaches

Regression to earlier stages of development e.g., nocturnal enuresis, separation anxiety, nail biting

Building resilience also prevents our kids and teens from becoming outwardly aggressive towards others which can be a major source of conflict in their relationships with family, peers, and teachers.

In addition, high resilience can prevent this negativity from being turned inwards toward themselves thereby reducing anxious thoughts and feelings, fear, eating problems, reduced self-confidence and self-esteem, depression, self-harming behaviours, avoidance, feeling physically unwell, suicidal ideation, isolation, loneliness, etc.

Resilience is as important for our children's mental well-being as it is for their physical health and development. The greater their resilience, the better equipped they will be to respond to future similar events that might be uncomfortable or distressing for them.

Further still, the better our kids and teens are at learning to confidently cope successfully with stressful events, the more independent and self-efficacious they will be, which lowers their risk of developing mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression in the future.