Everyday Resilience

Book excerpt: Everyday Resilience is about developing our children’s resilience muscle in the everyday moments of life, so when the big challenges arrive they are ready. The way our children handle ‘small knocks’ is crucial, as it will be the foundation for much bigger things. Parents have an opportunity to see each small knock as a teachable moment to build resilience and help kids deal with the increasing challenges of friendship issues, academic pressure and the self-doubt they experience on a daily basis. Our children can ‘have it all’ and still be ill-prepared to handle life’s challenges. Despite the posters on our school’s walls and the endless research on resilience, there has been a significant rise in mental illness over the past five years. For many of our young ones, resilience is much easier to talk about than put into practise. In this book Michelle shows every family how they can cultivate resilience in their children or adolescents by focussing on 7 key traits – courage, gratitude, empathy, self-awareness, responsibility, self-care and contribution. She answers questions like: How can I help my child be more confident? What do I say when my child is rejected by friends? How do I help a child who is struggling academically? What do I say when my child says, “I can’t”? How do I help an anxious or shy child find their voice? What can I do to help them discover their potential? As a teacher, and founder of Youth Excel, Michelle has witnessed first-hand what works. Using every day scenarios and how-to actions, Michelle explains resilience in a way that will relate to every family. Her practical tone, humour and hands on experience provide every parent with tools to nurture strength in young lives.