Being a child brings lots of big, scary moments. Starting school, standing up in front of class or crossing fingers and toes you’ll be picked for the sports team all set nerves rattling.
But what about bigger uncertainties no one can control? Like wars, natural disasters, or global pandemics? How do children develop the resilience they need to cope?
When times are uncertain play becomes even more important.
Anxiety and resilience: two ends of the same see-saw
We’re all born with a certain amount of natural resilience. And we can expect life to throw a certain amount of stress at us. Whether our see-saw tips towards the stressful side or not depends on the things we do to build and protect our resilience from day one.
For children, having a parent or caregiver that loves them is the best possible resilience booster. Time and again, we’ve seen that play only makes that bond stronger.
That’s not all it can do.
