If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.– Martin Luther King Jr.
Welcome to May and our Character Trait/s for the Month! While it seems as though life is getting back to normal, and we have had a significant amount of practice with resilience and resourcefulness over the past two years, it is still worthwhile to revisit these traits this month.
In today’s Character Issue you’ll find our SLOCA definitions of these two traits as well as some helpful discussion prompts to get conversations going in your home.
SLOCA Defines Resilience As:
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.
SLOCA Defines Resourcefulness As:
To act effectively and imaginatively, to use information and available resources wisely and efficiently.
Catch Phrase: You can figure this out!
Ways to forge Resilience:
- Ask your kids to define resilience. How does their definition compare to the SLOCA definition?
- Discuss failure and our catchphrase, “the only real failure is to not try again”. Why is failure an important part of learning and life? What if we never experienced mistakes or trials?
- Name some instances where you had to try multiple times to succeed. How did you feel when you failed? How did you feel when you finally succeeded? (Or if you are still working on it, how do you think you will feel when you finally succeed?)
- Put together a visual example of resilience. For example, find a spring and flatten it with a heavy book. Show your kids how it bounces back.
- Read stories with characters who are resilient. (See next week’s literature post for some suggestions.)
- How have you “recovered strength”? after this tough year? What about “determination, spirit, flexibility, and good humor”?
- Do you think this past year has helped you to be more resilient?
- Try something new! Ride a bike without training wheels, attempt a tricky recipe, explore a new art medium, etc., and if/when it doesn’t go “right”, try again.
- “Good humor” is included in the SLOCA definition of resilience. What is the value of being able to laugh at our own mistakes or to find the humor in a situation? When there is no humor to be found, do you think “good humor” can mean having a positive attitude or an optimistic outlook?
Ways to forge Resourcefulness:
- Take time to list some ways that you as a family have been resourceful over the past few months.
- Consider those around you, in what ways have you observed them being resourceful? (Think about your SLOCA teachers!)
- Characters in books and movies are often put into situations where they have to be resourceful, discuss some of your favorites. (Swiss Family Robinson, Rosie Revere the Engineer, Paddington — just a few suggestions, check back next week for our Teaching Through Literature post for more book suggestions.)
- Practice resourcefulness. Have your kids make a meal from limited ingredients or create an art project with recycled materials, etc.
- Having to be resourceful often encourages gratitude. When you do not always have the things you need/want, it prompts you to be extra thankful for what you do have. Share with each other what you are grateful for or jot some thoughts down in a gratitude journal.
- Imagination is a gift and kids are blessed with it in spades. Discuss how we can use our imagination to find ways to meet our needs. (Anyone read The Little Princess lately? She has a talent for using her imagination to make a little seem like a lot.)
