Resilience, Why?

Did you know that resilience is a significant protective factor for mental health? 

Resilience is our response to any challenge, good, bad, big, or small. The great part of that is that we have the opportunity to use even the smallest challenges to help our children build resilience. One of the first songs we released, Glo’s Challenge: Resilience (Spotify link), reminds us that even though it can be difficult to try new things, it is essential for building resilience.

The main job of our brain is to survive. As a result, we are wired to be afraid of new things. However, it is only by facing those challenges and handling them that we gain the confidence to tackle larger ones.

Glo represents the amygdala, the part of the brain responsible for detecting threats. When she sees a threat, her job is to get us ready for fight, flight, or freeze. In the song, Glo describes how it feels for our children when they face a challenge or try something new. It is scary. 

Danni represents the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that helps override that response when we don’t need to go into fight-flight-or freeze. In Danni Dragonfly, Danni represents the role of a parent or caregiver.  In the song, Danni reassures Glo that she can do it. Often, that is the most important thing we can do as parents – reassure our children that they have the skills they need to take on this new task and support them from the side.

Danni Helps (Spotify link) describes one of the most challenging things we can do as parents: letting our children struggle. As parents, we want to protect our children. It is hard to watch them get frustrated, particularly when we know we can help ease that frustration so easily. It doesn’t feel good to watch them having a hard time. However, it is only through that struggle that they can learn, grow, and feel that sense of achievement. 

As Danni knows, “Self-Esteem is not a gift that we can give, but it’s something that we earn through the challenges we live.”