This year I resumed teaching in school-based environments; occasional engagements. I hadn’t taught in a school environment since I went on maternity leave and as with any amount of time away from a job, I knew there would be changes. However, what really surprised me and what I wasn’t prepared for, was a lack of age appropriate resilience in many of the students.
Resilience is the ability to recover and bounce back from difficulties: failure and challenges. Now, this was also my first time back in the classroom since becoming a parent and it forced me to reflect on my own parenting and how I help to build resilience in my children.
Do I sometimes jump in to solve issues for them rather than let them problem solve a social situation? Yes. I will admit, I have been guilty of this in the past. It is my natural instinct as a mother to protect and shelter my children from any upsetting situation. I never want them to experience any injustice, difficulties or conflict – of course I don’t – I love them and would do anything to protect them. But they will experience injustice, difficulties and social conflict throughout their childhood and throughout their adult lives. And I won’t always be there to intervene.
We need to be building our children up to prepare them for both success and failure because this is the real world and they will experience both. We need to teach them to pick themselves up, brush themselves off when things don’t go their way and keep persevering.
Below is a helpful link with advice on building resilience in children. I hope you find it as helpful as I have.
Brooke McClure, Lead Resource Teacher at Education Boutique