the resilience doughnut

Last night at church we had a talk called "The Resilience Doughnut". It's a program designed by psychologist Lyn Worsley for building strong children.

It was a really good night and even a half-zonked, been-at-the-emergency-department-all-afternoon mother (see below) like me could get a lot out of it.

The concept is fairly simple. According to her research Lyn Worsley discovered that the resilient person - the person who can face adversity, survive it, and even be strengthened by it - is one who can say, "I HAVE" (ie I have people in my life who care for me, support me, appreciate me); I AM (ie I am valued/valuable, special, loved); and I CAN (ie I can do something about the situation I am in. I can help myself or I can get help).

To be able to demonstrate this sort of resilience a person generally draws on several factors in their lives. Lyn identified seven key factors that are significant in making someone resilient.

It's a program that DOCS (Department of Community Services) and schools are using to work with their kids.

I guess one of the driving principles is to focus on the positives. Instead of thinking about what's not working in a child's life, emphasise what is. So for my kids things like the family factor, the community factor and the parent factor are all pretty strong.

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The blood......

Walking to the car after school yesterday Elijah raced ahead and had a bit of a swing on a large pipe. But when he swung upside down he connected with a another pipe and gouged a rather deep gash into the back of his head. Hence the blood.

Praise God for helpful builders nearby, a mum passing from school to help with the kids, my parents who minded Jake while I took Elijah to hospital and Lucy went to training with Tim and finally for the lovely staff at Ryde who took care of us. Must say holding down E while his head was stitched was fairly traumatic for both of us. His trauma was remedied by a packet of twisties but I needed a cup of tea!