The Day After……. Resilience

It’s the day after a much anticipated game. All the hype….. all the hopes….. all the expectations. The game doesn’t turn out as you had hoped. Now what?

Times like these are opportunities to learn/teach/practice “resilience”. Kids watch and learn from the adults & caregivers in their lives. Do I focus on the disappointment of the loss or do I celebrate all the victories and accomplishments that put us in the position to be able to play in that game? Life is all about perspective & choices.

Here is one of my favorite quotes on resilience (from “Socially Strong, Emotionally Secure: 50 Activities to Promote Resilience in Young Children” by Nefertiti Bruce & Karen B. Cairone):

Kids with special needs often face challenges & obstacles bigger than most of us could imagine. One of the best skills we can teach them is resilience & persistence. I am inspired every day by the kids I work with at the JD McCarty Center for Children with Developmental Disabilities. Many of the kids at JDMC are big OKC Thunder Basketball fans and will learn much from watching how the players bounce back from the disappointing loss last night.

Having been born, raised & lived in Oklahoma my whole life, it has been inspiring to see the recent change in perspective in Oklahoma. Oklahomans have always had a strong sense of pioneer spirit & persistence but our self-image as a state was pretty poor…… the whole “dust-bowl” image didn’t help things. It has been inspiring to see folks in our state rally around our pro basketball team and for Oklahoma to be portrayed in a positive way in the national media. Thunder players we love y’all and our kids are looking to you for a great example of resilience