Sharing a Secret on Raising Resilient Kids

Recently I did a guest post on Olga's blog The European Mama. The interesting thing we recently discovered is that our blogs are about the same age. Olga is "A Polish mother living in the Netherlands with her German husband and three children and she writes about parenting, multilingualism, being European, and much much more."

I liked the interview on the InCultureParent's website of Olga and her husband, if you want to know more about what a real intercultural family is like then you can read the interview here. 

In my guest blog I write about the secret of raising resilient kids. Don't we all want to raise strong healthy kids? Children that can face challenges and overcome them. Children who grow and develop into healthy independent individuals. Well I recently discovered a secret to raising resilient kids.

What is resilience? Resilience is a powerful word. Psychological resilience is an individual's tendency to cope with stress and adversity. So is there a key to raising kids that can cope well with stress and adversity?
If you want to continue reading click over to Olga's blog.

Remember there is still time to leave a comment on my latest post an interview with Apple Gidley and have a chance to win a signed copy of her book Expat Slice. Apple grew up as a third culture kid and she has kept moving ever since.

Related Posts:

• Is there a difference between adult and kids living abroad?
• Dutch mum raising bilingual child (interview on InCultureParent) 
• Time for some thing new 
• What's it like to grow up cross-culturally? (on Both but Neither) 

New book: Emotional Resilience and the Expat Child by Julia Simens

Julia Simens has recently written the book Emotional Resilience and the Expat Child practical storytelling techniques that will strengthen the global family.
Julia Simens is an author, educator, consultant and presenter with a focus on international relocation. This has kept Julia coming and going from the USA for over 20 years. She has worked on five continents with families who are relocating all over the world. With a focus on family therapy and early childhood education she has helped many children and families adjust to their global lifestyle. Read more: http://www.jsimens.com/

Doug Ota, child psychologist has forwarded the book. He writes that the book "has broken the skill of understanding feelings into easy digestible and imminently practical steps that any parent can apply. No book has ever done so with the special issues of an expatriate or mobile population in mind."

Definition of the word "Resilience" according to Wikipedia:
"Resilience refers to the idea of an individual's tendency to cope with stress and adversity. This coping may result in the individual “bouncing back” to a previous state of normal functioning, or using the experience of exposure to adversity to produce a “steeling effect” and function better than expected."

The book is essentially written for families with younger children (unto approximately 8 years old) but it contains lots of information on different kinds of emotions (like fear, anger, grief, sadness, and aggression, just to name a few). It would be good for parents, grandparents, teachers and anyone working with third culture kids (global nomads) or expat children to read this book. Let's face it we all want to raise resilient children, don't we?

In the book Julia writes "Reflections about moving" and one sentence just jumps out of the page. It is the sentence:"Children understand and want to talk about what their life has been being an expat child". I think it is so true. Remember I know what she is talking about, I made several international moves as a child. I think this would also be true for children of refugees, immigrants, international adoptees and other kids known as cross cultural kids. So please let's make an effort to talk with these kids moving globally.

Watch this film and experience the book launch in May 2011 at the New International school in Thailand.

 

Here is a book review of "Emotional Resilience and the Expat Child" written by Wordgeyser (an expat blogger living in the Netherlands). 

 Read an interview of Julia Simens done by Linda on her blog "Adventures in Expatland"

Listen to Jo Parfitt interview Julia Simens on the Writers Abroad Radio Show. It's all about why Julia wrote the book.

Julia wrote an article for the website Expat women For Mothers: But just how resilient are you raising your children to be? 

Read more on Moving globally with kids: part one and part two. 

Interested in reading more books on this topic?

Do you have any tips to raise resilient children? Please add your tips.