Strong Emotional Resilience Activities for Kids

Anyone who spends time around children knows that they're capable of just about anything. With wonder for the world and all the things in it, it doesn't take much to pique a child's interest or to challenge their curiosity, as long as they're given adequate space and the time to experience it at a rate that works best for them. Indeed, the potential for greatness and happiness is inherent in each child, especially when they're encouraged and nurtured to seek out rewarding behaviors and pursuits.
But, unfortunately, kids aren't immune to the challenges of life. Stress, tragedy or trauma can keep kids from engaging in activities that they enjoy, as well as activities that they may learn to enjoy. Resilience is about bouncing back when life hits you with something unexpected, and when children are resilient, there's no limit to what they can accomplish in the world.

How Resilience Affects the Brain
Before we get to different resilience activities for kids that you can use to help get your child back on track, it's important to know how resilience affects the brain and why it's valuable. In a nutshell, resilience is what makes us stronger after a bout of stress or adversity. That's because the body physically changes during trying times, increasing our heart rate, sending our blood pressure up and flying adrenaline and cortisol through the bloodstream.
In the short term, that can be positive. If, say, you're confronted by a wild animal, it can give you the focus and energy to get away safety. In sports, it can lead you to find strength you never know you had. But when the stress is ongoing, it can actually rid the body of energy while you languish in this heightened state. Over a prolonged period of time, it can actually start to weaken the immune system, as well as the body and brain itself.
With enough stress, the prefrontal cortex -- which is responsible for attention, problem solving, impulse control and emotion -- may actually shut down temporarily, allowing you to focus more efficiently. Resilience empowers you to reactivate the prefrontal cortex, giving you the ability to adapt or find a solution that may not be acknowledged by that unreliable fight-or-flight response.

Can Resilience Be Taught or Changed?
Some think that kids are either resilient or not. But those that are most resilient are often those that have faced particularly challenging issues and came out on the other side. You may not be able to protect your child from the trials and tribulations of life, but you can show them the tools that they'll need to have a healthy relationship with stress and the things that affect their emotions and well-being.

In fact, resilience can even help re-wire the brain to be more capable in the face of various challenges by seeking out enriching and beneficial experiences that reinforce positivity instead of negative thoughts. Over the long haul, that can help turn a child into a resilient adult capable of handling whatever the world has in store for them.

How To Build Resilience in Children
By starting small, you can actually build resilience into a normal part of your child's life. While you may not be able to protect them against life's stressors, tragedies or traumas, you can show them how to pick themselves up if they fall down or stumble, which will help them develop into the person that they were meant to be.
Here are some resilience activities for kids that you can use whenever your child needs some support.

1. Support your child's relationships, not their independence. It can be tempting to leave a child that's suffering alone, especially if it doesn't look like they want to talk, but giving them too much alone time could backfire. Relationships with friends and family are vitally important when it comes to the emotional well-being of your child, and letting them stew in their own emotions when they're already overwhelmed can send them in the wrong direction.
   
2. Tell your child that it's okay to ask for help. They may not take you up on it right away -- or at all -- but just knowing that the option is there can help lift a child's spirits. If it's something that they can handle on their own, show them the way, but don't go so far as to do it for them.
   
3. Introduce games that highlight social behavior or memory. Instead of mindless video games where they can forget about life for a few hours, which may merely delay negative thoughts, encourage tactile or strategic games such as Monopoly, Risk or card-based games that can engage your child's thinking and reasoning centers, as well as nurturing real-life interactions with friends and family.
   
4. Encourage your child to exercise and play. If your child is largely sedentary, here's a resilience activity for kids that will get them up and moving -- send them outside! Whether it's kicking a ball around, riding a bike or just soaking up the afternoon sun, it's important to show your child that there's more to life than just being indoors all day. Exposure to the sun's rays will help boost their mood, and exercise is also proven to be a nice pick-me-up.
   
5. Nurture your child's optimism. When we're young we tend to think that anything's possible. But as we age, we lose sight of the positivity and optimism that frames much of our childhood. The glass isn't half empty, it's half full, and sometimes all it takes is a little bit of reframing to focus on the positive and avoid dwelling on the negative.
   
6. Show your child how to be resilient with your behavior. Didn't land that new job or had a setback at work? Talk to your child about it. This isn't the time to dump it on them, but to show them how you're looking to get beyond and what your plan is to bounce back and be better. They'll see that it's okay to have setbacks, but, more importantly, they'll see how you're moving forward, which can normalize that kind of approach.
   
7. Teach your child that problem-solving requires work. Most kids never see all the work that goes on behind the scenes to overcome obstacles and problems. That may leave them with an unrealistic view of how to move forward in the face of adversity. But if you teach them that even the greats have adversity to overcome, they'll be able to turn problems into challenges and challenges into successes.
   

If you have a child or teen that just can't seem to move forward no matter how much you encourage them, they may need professional help. Contact the experts at Quick Results Counseling for a free, 45-minute consultation call.