Hello and welcome. Today, we're going to talk about how we can strengthen children's resilience through the power of mindfulness. Resilience in children comes from the core belief that they can quickly bounce back from difficult situations. The regular practice of mindfulness and meditation helps train the brain to have stronger focus and acceptance of what's going on in the present moment. This is important to know as research shows that resilience is connected to attention control and cognitive reappraisal.

So our ability to direct our full attention towards a situation and then to reconsider the situation with a positive perspective, with a silver lining attached to it. Now, how can we apply this understanding with children? We can use a quick two-step process. Step one, validation and step two, optimism. Every time your child is facing a situation that challenges their emotions, you can use this as an opportunity for resilience building. For example, say they lost in a game with their siblings.

To build their resilience, let's first validate and label their emotions. You can say something like, I see that you look sad and disappointed. Do you feel upset that you lost the game? I understand how you feel. Sometimes I feel sad too, when I lose something." Then let's demonstrate optimistic thinking. You can say something like, "Sometimes when we lose, we can feel super energized to get better at the game.

Can you practice at something to get better for the next game." Or even, "I wonder how your brother won this time. Maybe we can learn what strategies he used to win the game. Do you want to try and find out together?" When we validate our children's feelings, we are guiding them to become mindfully aware of the emotions being felt by their body, acknowledging that it's okay and completely normal to feel these things. This is a tension control aspect that we talked about earlier. When we're demonstrating optimistic thinking, we're teaching our children that they hold the power to reinterpret a situation and look from a different perspective, a perspective that inspires positive change and growth.

This is the cognitive reappraisal element. Now to really solidify and maintain a resilient mindset, it's just as important to be regularly repeating the strategy. Facing a challenge, validation, optimism. Conflict validation, optimism. Tantrum validation, optimism.

So on and so forth, getting easier and quicker over time. Thank you so much for your time and presence here today. And thank you for sharing the joy and power of mindfulness with your children.