Why do some young people struggle with resilience and what can we do about it? By Dr Lucy Russell
It’s normal even for relatively resilient children to struggle at certain points in time. This doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with your child or with your parenting.
Theme: Mental Resilience
Use: Activity
Pupil type: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5
Type: Document, Link
Implementation timeframe: Quick Win, Manageable
What’s in This Article?
- What is Resilience?
- Why Do Some Children Struggle With Resilience?
- Five Resilience Activities for Children
- How to Build Resilience in Children: My Eight Top Parent Tips
- Summary: How to Build Resilience in Children
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Related Articles
Building resilience in children takes thought and dedication. In this article I take a look at what resilience is, how to build it, and I suggest 5 creative resilience activities for kids.
It’s normal even for relatively resilient children to struggle at certain points in time. This doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with your child or with your parenting.
It may be the demands and expectations of the world around the child which are causing them to struggle with resilience.
Resilience is one of the most important areas you can support your child with.
They need to develop skills to manage setbacks throughout their lives.
So why not have some fun and build some resilience activities into your everyday lives?
This can impact their wellbeing and self-esteem.
Why does your child struggle with resilience?
According the Dr Lucy Russell the reasons are:
- Limited problem-solving skills.
- Unrealistic expectations (from those around them or their own inner expectations).
- High sensitivity.
- Trauma or life change.
- Lack of control leading to learned helplessness.
- Differences (such as neurodivergence / specific learning difficulties) which mean a child has to work harder because their environment isn’t adapted to their needs.

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