How to Promote Resilience in Your Child

“To be a champion, we must view setbacks as set ups. Failure is, after all, part of the process of success.”

Building resilience in early childhood is a topic often not spoken about, with parents and educators often focusing on areas such as speech development, early literacy and numeracy and social development.

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But of course, without the ability to regulate their own emotions, resolve conflicts and manage tasks independently, our children will find the transition to primary school and the expectations placed on them thereafter very difficult.

A useful way to view this area of development is the metaphor of the bamboo plant.

For a considerable time at the beginning of its growth, the bamboo plant is not visible above the ground as it grows strong roots beneath the surface. Other plants appear to grow faster, while from the surface it appears that the bamboo is not growing at all. However, once it does grow above the soil, it becomes one of the strongest plants in the world, with the ability to withstand natural disasters due to its structural soundness and flexibility.

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The development of a young child’s resilience is very much like the bamboo. We need to first build their foundations to mature into strong individuals.

We value the theories made related to early years and child development, such as British Psychologist, Edward John Bowlby, known for his theory of secure attachments.

For a child to develop resilience, they must feel secured, loved, wanted and cared for at the early years of his life and feel attachments to key care givers. These secure attachments allow the child to develop a sense of safety, belongingness, security and confidence, allowing them to explore and express their curiosity, and to view those “setbacks as setups”.