Building resilience in children

by Barry Richardson

Creative Director @ The Worrinots

​Nobody likes to experience failure, but it is one of life’s inevitabilities. Everyone has experienced it at some point, but it’s how you deal with it that really matters. 

Children in particular are often shielded from failure; with the best of intentions in mind, but this doesn’t create the skills they will need in life to cope with failure when it rears its ugly head.

What does failure do to a person? This is hard to answer, but all failures can be overcome. After the initial anguish or embarrassment has passed, with the right coping mechanisms all people, including children, will cope with setbacks.
Even the brightest pupils will fail at some point in school, even the best athlete won’t always be first. This is why dealing with failure and processing emotions positively and effectively is vitally important – it is a life skill. Without preparing children to deal with failure, we are letting them down. It only means the problems will be exacerbated in adulthood. Children spend so much time at school interacting with others and experiencing failures. Schools have a vital role to play. ​

Worrinots: Helps to tackle mental health issues and build resilience at source

A role that should equip children to deal with emotions that supercede failure.
Unfortunately, what is clear is that schools are good at giving students the tools to succeed at exams and tests, but all too often fail to offer students coping mechanisms for the anxieties and stresses schools put them under to achieve.

The problem with untreated mental health conditions – which may well stem from failure and unprocessed emotions – can be numerous. What is obvious however, is that the inability to process emotions in adulthood can have a devastating impact on someone’s ability to function within society. This is what makes teaching emotional intelligence such a life skill and is why schools should be using technology to help children share their concerns, worries and fears.

By harnessing the technology that children trust, The Worrinots app provides a solution to the problem. Offering long term tips and tactics in the classroom, The Worrinots app helps children learn to cope with and manage ongoing pressures.

In an educational environment this solution is vital. The fact that schools are often ill-equipped currently to help children with their mental health problems means that new solutions are imperative. Given the extent of the problem – 290,000 children in the UK have an anxiety disorder – action needs to be taken now. By working together, and using considered tools like The Worrinots, it is possible to help children prepare for failure and share their worries, fears and anxieties in a way that makes the outcome for them positive.

To quote Benjamin Franklin “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” This should be applied to teaching children, especially when it comes to dealing with failure and their feelings. Children shouldn’t be insulated from failure as this does not prepare them for later life; instead children should be given the right tools to allow them to express themselves and learn how to cope with anxiety, worries and ultimately the “F” word.

As Winston Churchill once said “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” Or to steal J.K. Rowling’s words “Failure is so important…It is the ability to resist failure or use failure that often leads to greater success.”

​Failure is not the end. It is a part of life. Those that cope with failure the best give them themselves a much better chance of being happy and successful.

The Worrinots are building case studies on the impact of their app and are looking to work with an additional 6 schools. If you are interested, The Worrinots app would be provided to your school FREE OF CHARGE. Please register your interest here and we will be in touch.