Many jobs available today would have been impossible to prepare for 30 years ago. The pace of technology change, as well as developments in how we live and work, means we need to prepare children for a world of work we can’t possibly plan for yet.
So, what can we focus on to make sure they’re prepared?
On the podcast you’ll hear how allowing your child to fail holds the key to success, which areas might be ones to watch, and how being a flexible parent can impact your child positively.
You’ll hear about the importance of resilience, too, which is something parents are able to help their children develop from an early age.
Resilience is the ability to overcome or recover from difficulties, and it is a skill that is learnt through experience just like any other.
It's something that can be impacted by other things too – someone might be able to deal with challenges with great resilience on one day, but another day different circumstances can make it much harder to bounce back from the same challenge.
Research has shown that early childhood is an important time for understanding, and developing, resilience.[1]
Having experience of how to cope in these situations makes it easier to handle them – and this doesn’t mean your child needs to be dealing with big or stressful challenges. Lots of the experiences children have in their day-to-day life will help build this skill.
There are lots of simple ways to start supporting your child to develop their resilience, no matter how young they are.
For young babies, they will be able to cope with challenges if they know that there is a trusted and loving person close by who will make sure their needs are met.
Simply being there for your baby, responding to them when they need you and making sure they know how loved they are will be the beginning of building that strong foundation of confidence they can stand on as they grow.
This need for feeling loved, seen and confident is (of course) supportive to resilience for everyone – so this approach will help to support resilience for everyone in your family.
As your child gets older try to give them time to solve simple, non-distressing problems themselves before you jump in and solve them.
This can be so hard – from stopping yourself moving a toy closer to your baby as they try to reach it, to sitting on your hands while your toddler tries a puzzle piece at every possible angle except the right one.
Giving them time to think about things in their own time, and try different options, shows them that you believe they can solve problems themselves.
Talk through your thinking when faced with a problem – and let them know when you find things hard or difficult too.
Realising that they’re not alone with their tricky feelings, and being able to see someone else who feels that way having a go, will support your child's growing understanding of their own emotions and options for dealing with them.
Be encouraging, and let them try again if things go wrong.
When it’s safe to do so, gently encourage them to keep trying something that is hard. It might be building a tower that stays up, climbing a new set of steps at the park or getting the artwork in their head onto a page.
If they're very upset at the idea of trying again, don’t force it. Let them take time to regroup if they need to, or suggest another way to approach the problem which is more likely to let them be successful when they try again.
Most of all, celebrate times they show resilience by noticing all the hard work your child put into the moment – even if they result isn’t exactly what they wanted.
It’s always important to show them how wonderful you think they are for doing something hard or new.
You can do this even when the outcome isn’t a success, by saying something like “I am so sorry your tower didn’t stay up. I could see how hard you worked to keep it tall – you had some really good ideas! I loved the way you used a book to hold up this piece. Let's try again!”
It’s always important to show them how wonderful you think they are for doing something hard or new – but when you can make sure to let them know you’re proud because ot
You can listen to the podcast all about jobs of the future here.
Let us know on social media, or by email to askusanything@mffy.com, if you have any questions about how to support your child to build their resilience and nurture their creativity.
Reference:
[1] Masten AS, Gewirtz AH. 'Resilience in development: The importance of early childhood'. In: Tremblay RE, Barr RG, Peters RDeV, eds. Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development [online]. Montreal, Quebec: Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development; 2006:1-6. Available at: http://www.child-encyclopedia.com/documents/Masten-GewirtzANGxp.pdf. Accessed [September 2023].