How to raise resilient kids

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Happy Olympics Season! 🥇 We are in awe of all of the athletes and their superhuman strength. If only they would add “carrying as many grocery bags as humanly possible just to avoid a second trip back to the car” as an Olympic event...let’s just say we’d be celebrating Simone Biles style this week.

Raising Resilient Children

Resilience doesn’t mean what it used to. When we were younger, resilience was a synonym for “rub some dirt in it” or “pull yourself up by your bootstraps,” which are really just code for “ignore your issues and bury your feelings.” Thank goodness that’s no longer the case.

Today, helping your kids learn to be resilient means helping them to learn more about themselves, figure out how to move through difficult situations, and come back stronger when they inevitably get knocked down.

So…yeah, it’s pretty high on the list of important lessons to teach your kids before they fly the coop. That’s why we loved our incredibly insightful chat with best-selling author and resilience and wellness scholar Dr. Robyne Hanley-Dafoe. Some of her tips?

• Build up “everyday” resilience. Getting through the little things empowers kids to get through the big ones. So resist the urge to protect kids from uncomfortable feelings and instead give them the opportunity to overcome them.

• Foster an emotionally safe environment. In order to build up their resilience, kids need to feel safe—like someone has their back, even when they mess up. Without that, they’ll never build up a tolerance for failure or the confidence to try again.

• Be a role model. If you mess up, it’s important that your kids see you take accountability and admit openly that perfection is overrated.

Listen to the episode for more stellar tips like those! ⬆️

Making the Case for Listening to Kids

A 10-year-old has written her second book on parenting. In her books, Montreal pre-teen Naomi Miller gently advises parents to be compassionate with their children and to listen to them instead of immediately going into problem-solving mode. That’s pretty sage advice for a fifth grader!

Don’t get us wrong, we love expert advice. But sometimes, it’s helpful to hear from the people currently being parented—the kids! Take this as a chance to ask your kids for a performance review (and don’t be surprised if they ask for later bedtime—stay strong 💪).

Tackle Bedtime with Netflix Jr.’s Popular Podcast

Winning the bedtime battle with your kids can feel like an impossible task, but what if you had a little extra help?

Enter Bedtime Stories with Netflix Jr., the Signal Award-winning and chart-topping Kids & Family podcast made to help kids drift off to sleep alongside characters from their favorite streaming series (like StoryBots and Super Monsters).

Created with a childhood development expert, the show helps children successfully transition to sleep and build skills to navigate the world.

Listen to Bedtime Stories.

Teens and Screens: Sleep Edition

This is wild. A recent report published in the Journal of Adolescent Health found that leaving a phone with the ringer on overnight is associated with a 25% higher risk of sleep issues for kids between the ages of 11 and 12. Not good.

So what should parents do to protect their children’s sleep? No phone at night is ideal, but we know that’s a big ask. You could also try encouraging “Do Not Disturb.” That way the phone is accessible in case of an emergency, but it’s also not going off every five seconds. And? Here’s a great resource for getting kids to balance sleep with screen time.

The Olympics are about so much more than just sporting events. They represent hope, triumph, and perseverance. So today, some fun and inspiring highlights so far:

• The US women’s gymnastics team is on fire (don’t get us started on the internet haters already trying to dull their shine)

• The duo we never saw coming: Flavor Flav and women’s water polo?

• TV broadcaster Scott Bryan keeps it real (and calls us all out!)  

• US rugby player Ilona Maher schools a troll on what an Olympic athlete truly looks like