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How do you teach your child to face up to their problems? Many children learn early on that others will sort problems out for them, or that they aren’t worth the hassle. As a result, they don’t get to develop the necessary skills and resilience. In this post we share tips from a secondary school in West Sussex on how you can teach your child to deal with these difficult situations and be a good support.

Set Goals
From the beginning it’s important to set goals with children. It teaches them to look ahead, be optimistic and helps create a sense of purpose. When they run into challenges, their goals remind them why they started and give them motivation to carry on.

Be Honest
It’s just as important to be honest with children and not set false expectations as this can be even more damaging to their confidence. Be honest with your child about their ability.

Coping Strategies
Anxiety and frustration are common feelings to experience when things don’t go as planned. It can be stressful and disheartening which is why coping strategies are important to explore with children. They offer a way of managing those difficult emotions, help children to move past them and overcome their obstacles. Mindfulness is a broad category of coping strategies that you can explore. The techniques aim to connect you to the present moment so that you can relax and feel less stressed.

Problem Solving
Developing problem solving skills will also help equip children to deal with obstacles better. Play is a great way to introduce children to challenges and encourages them to think innovatively.

Be There to Provide Reassurance
You can also help your child to deal with the feelings by providing support and reassurance.

Be a Good Role Model
Children see their parents as role models and pick up on their attitudes and behaviours. Being resilient and demonstrating effort to deal with your own obstacles can give them motivation and confidence to deal with theirs. Likewise, pessimism can rub off on your child so it’s important to be mindful of how you deal with situations.

Preparation for The Future
While obstacles are never easy to deal with, encountering them can help children develop resilience and deal with their problems independently in future. As they get older, their problems will also likely become more challenging which is why it is important that children are given the opportunity to tackle situations like these by themselves.