{photo by Armando Castillejos}
“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”
~ Thomas Edison
“If there is no wind, row.”
~ Roman Proverb
We are doubling up again on character traits this month, as we focus on Resilience and Resourcefulness, two attributes that often go together naturally:
Resilience – The ability to recover strength, determination, spirit, flexibility, and good humor in the face of change, mistakes and trials.
Catch phrase: The only real failure is to not try again.
Resourcefulness –To act effectively and imaginatively, to use information and available resources wisely and efficiently.
Catch phrase: You can figure this out!
From simple frustrations to incredible difficulties, we encounter opportunities to practice resilience and resourcefulness on a regular basis – often daily! In fact, resilience sometimes requires resourcefulness (or vice-versa), as our students learned when they researched inventors for their their Invention Convention projects.
As much as we want to help our children, struggles and challenges are good for them. They are also watching how we deal with life’s trials, mistakes, and setbacks. Do we act with strength, determination, and good humor? Are we resourceful in our attempts to keep trying?
For intentional resilience-building, here are two handy resources:
25 Ideas for Teaching Your Kids Resilience
10 phrases you hear in resilient families: are you using them?
And here are this month’s mini-posters, which you can print and display at home if you wish (click on the links or the images for the pdfs):
May Character Trait: Resilience |
