Resilience: Preparing Children to Weather Traumatic Events

We speak with Dr. Tovah P. Klein, professor of psychology at Barnard College and the director of the Center for Toddler Development, about her book, “Raising Resilience: How to Help Our Children Thrive in Times of Uncertainty.” Dr. Klein describes how parents and teachers should build children’s resilience BEFORE anything frightening or traumatic occurs. Most importantly, children and teens need to know they will never be alone, that their parents or trusted adults will always be there for them.

Overview

00:00-00:38 Intros

00:38-02:12 Building resilience proactively

02:12-04:22 Responding to traumatic situations at school

04:22-09:18 Five Pillars of Children’s Resilience

09:18-10:51 School environments that support resilience

10:51-12:48 How teachers can prepare to respond calmly to their own triggers

12:48-16:52 Responding to the temptations of screens

16:52-20:56 Secrets, including how to handle necessary secrets

20:56-24:20 Dealing with fears and threatening situations

24:20-27:36 What schools can do

27:36-30:50 Allowing kids to ask

30:50- Outro

Transcript

Click here to see the full transcription of this episode. 

References

Soundtrack by Poddington Bear