As a parent, I know I'm not alone in my desire to shield my children from any and all adversity. But as a rational human being who recognizes that both my children and I live in a real world full of potentially hurtful situations, I know they'll be far better served if I help them develop a sense of resilience instead. It's a process, but as you move along you will find signs your kid is already pretty emotionally resilient.
(Aren't our kids always amazing us? And sometimes it's for good things, like displaying signs of emotional resilience and not because they've painted the cat. Again)
This is really the beauty of any aspect of child-rearing, in my experience: you work and work and work to encourage your child to learn how to behave and cope and, for a long time, it feels like you're talking to a brick wall — a brick wall that never sleeps through the night and won't eat anything but Cheerios and raisins. But gradually, over time, you start to see it. You see the behavior you've been modeling reflected back in your child's actions. And it's awesome.
Unfortunately, emotional bubble wrap isn't a thing. Trust me, if it were I would have bought every last roll and swaddled my children for as long as humanly possible. So, the ability to cope with and move past adversity, is the best we've got. While strong evidence shows that there is a biological component to a child's ability to be resilient, according to Harvard University's Center on the Developing Child, environmental factors make a difference and can be encouraged and developed over time, which is great news. Even better news is the fact that, in a lot of instances, they're things we're probably already doing in an attempt to raise a happy, well-adjusted kiddo.
So with all that in mind, here are just a few things that can be signs that your child is, actually, well on their way to being a resilient human being: