Teach Your Children Mental Resilience

Managing mental resilience and health is challenging enough as an adult.

We can understand why we’re stressed or upset, we know there are resources and tools to help us. (Review Chapters 3 Double Your Resilience, Chapter 6 Deal with Your Emotional Junk and Chapter 7 Manage Your Mental Health in Your Oxygen Mask First for more about this.) And we’ve lived long enough to know that we sometimes can’t manage our way out of it alone.

However, it’s different for our children. They don’t have the perspective to articulate their stress, or to ask for help.

One of the fallouts of this pandemic, we’re now seeing, is how much our kids are struggling with uncertainty and worry and lack of social interaction. And we’re learning how important it is to teach our children mental resilience and how to manage their emotions in an uncertain world.

Learning this critical life skill can’t wait until they are in a career and stressed on the job.

Two-thirds of children and youth in British Columbia are struggling with mild to moderate mental health challenges during the pandemic, up from one third before the arrival of COVID-19. – Vancouver Sun

It’s heartbreaking that so many kids are suffering from depression, anxiety, can’t focus, feel lonely and even suicidal. And not encouraging that we lack the social service supports to help them.

That being said, there is a lot we can do at home, starting at an early age. Teaching them how to deal with their emotions appropriately is as important as learning how to cross the street safely and know how to swim, to be independent, to have good hygiene and manners, to have compassion and to contribute.

• Pay attention. We get so busy managing day-to-day activities we often miss cues.
• Validate your child’s emotions. Acknowledge it’s OK to have feelings of all kinds.
• Be calm and a safe place to land.
• Teach them. Show them how to calm themselves down, and to express themselves appropriately.
• Manage their sleep and screen time.
• Model resilience behaviours. How you behave when you are stressed – and what you do to mitigate it – is your best teaching tool.
• Get educated. We’re not born knowing how to manage every situation. Every parent can learn strategies and tools to better help their children.

Learning and practicing resilience rituals, is a leadership skill that will serve you, your team and your family in every stage of work, self and life.

The Challenge

• How good are you at practicing your own resilience rituals so that you are the best version of yourself, taking care of your body, mind and spirit?
• What conversations might you have, or tools might you share with the children in your life?

About Kevin:

CEOs typically place their first call to Coach Kevin with a crisis to solve. They stay because of his business acumen and no-holds-barred, tell-it-like-it-is style.

Kevin’s career spans 20 years, over a dozen countries and four continents. He’s worked with hundreds of CEOs and executives, helping them to break through business challenges, grow their companies and find personal success along the way.

These experiences inspired Kevin’s book, Your Oxygen Mask First, in which he reveals the 17 habits every leader must know to transcend the perils of success, and achieve even more.

About Lawrence & Co:

Lawrence & Co’s work focuses on sustainable and enhanced growth for you and your business. Our diverse and experienced group of advisors can help your leaders and executive teams stay competitive through the use of various learning tools including workshops, webinars, executive retreats, or one-to-one coaching.

We help high-achieving leaders to have it all – a great business and a rewarding life. Contact us for simple and impactful advice. No BS. No fluff.