By Renee Ruffin-Price
For Al Dia Today
During our current times, some of our children and teens need extra support to help them cope with living through unexpected circumstances or witnessing negative or unkind behaviors. Not everyone develops the ability to be resilient and bounce back from adversities, but given the appropriate foundation, others can acquire this skill. And it’s one of those skills that will better enable our children and teens to handle their future challenges. To stay current on trends, I read articles from the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University and recently, I read a summary titled “Resilience” that highlighted details of research which identified common factors children having positive outcomes despite facing significant adversities.
This summary, located in the Center’s “Science” section of their website, mentions how protective experiences on one side can counterbalance major adversity on the other side. It also notes that the single most common factor for those who develop resilience is at least one stable and committed relationship with a supportive parent, caregiver, or other adult. When this person intentionally helps a child or teen build key capacities, such as the ability to plan, monitor, and regulate behavior, the combination of supportive relationships, adaptive skill-building, and positive experiences becomes the foundation of resilience. The ultimate goal is not only to provide our children and teens with tools they can use now to manage some of the uncertainties of our current times, but to provide them with a stronger foundation so that they can succeed in the future. For more information, visit the Center at (https://developingchild.harvard.edu/science/key-concepts/resilience/) .
Article submitted on January 31, 2022, by Renee’ Ruffin-Price, Community Advocate for Children, for the February issue of Al Dia Today