How do we help foster resiliency in our children and in our classroom? - with Robin Hanley Dafoe

Everywhere you look these days - magazines, newspapers, parenting articles, school curriculum - you will see something like the following: 

How to build resilient kids

10 ways to build emotional resilience

How to grow resilient learners

Best phrases to make your kids resilient

Our kids need to develop more resiliency

Resiliency. It is one of those words that we know is important, but what is it? 

Resiliency is described by Oxford as “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness”. 

We can all imagine how this ability to recover from difficult situations (and we have all been exposed to many difficult situations these past couple of years with COVID) is vital in an unpredictable world. However, of course, there are many different areas of our kids’ lives that resilience applies to. 

So what does “being resilient” look like for your child and what does it mean as you try to help foster it in your developing child or student? 

Dr. Robyne Hanley-Dafoe writes that “resiliency matters because it helps promote social and emotional wellbeing. Children who are resilient are able to successfully navigate their emotions. They can trust themselves and believe that they can likely figure out what they need to. Resilient children also know when to ask for help”. 

Our physical, emotional, and mental health are being tested every day. There is an extraordinary need to build, foster and practice resilience so we can navigate our lives. We feel this as parents and professionals, but we know that our kids (and especially our kids with learning differences) are feeling this strain too. 

We are bringing Dr. Robyne Hanley-Dafoe in as a keynote for our 7th Annual Summit on November 12th + 13th to discuss all about her theory of “Everyday Resilience” . Dr. Hanley-Dafoe is a multi-award-winning psychology and education instructor who specializes in resiliency, navigating stress and change, leadership, and personal wellness.  Participants will learn how to incorporate resiliency and wellness practices for personal applications, as well as ideas and skill sets that support our children. 

Dr. Hanley-Dafoe is one of our keynote speakers along with Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman, Sara Westbrook, Dr. Todd Cunningham, and Cofounders of Shift Your Thinking Susan Schenk and Sperry Bilyea. Learn more about our Summit and all of the incredible topics we will be covering by visiting our website www.shiftyourthinkingld.com/summit

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Written by Jill Watson, B.Ed., M.Ed., OCT.