Biology Forums - Study Force

Resilient children are referred to children who adapt positively in the face of significant adversity. Do you think resilience can be taught or learned? Why or why not?"

I believe it is both. There is evidence that everyone is born with a different personality, but how that personality develops depends on the environment. Some children are born more independent and resilient than others, and this is evidenced through observational studies on newborn infants. But it is suggested that an infant's personality when born can ALSO affect how a parent and significant others respond to that baby, and that response can also depend on the personality of that person. So in many ways, it is an intricate and complicated interaction.

Generally, it was an ongoing interaction between nature and nurture dancing together that contributed to the individual you are. It is affected by the personality of the parent, the innate personality of the child, the environment in which the child is raised and needs to survive in, the birth order of the child (i.e. oldest, youngest), gender, so many different factors.

I believe resilience is learnt from one's environment, it is a part of one's personality (which stems prominently from environment, as one is growing). So, if you have a mother that grabs for the child each and every time they fall or scrape themselves, they are going to be more susceptible to seek outward comfort, rather than inward.

If they have a mother that not only demonstrates through her own struggles, the importance to fight back and keep going until they have succeeded, the child is going to be more apt, to do so as well. making them more resilient.

I believe it is a tool, that over time is learnt, from various sources. It all depends on how those sources were presented and how they manifested, in ones eyes. I think that if you teach or guide resilience from a young age, the child will become a fighter - not physically but intellectually / emotionally - they will strive for what they truly want and they will not stop until they have it. They will bounce back from hardships and keep moving on. However, in order for them to learn, they must fail. If it means quitting something and then realizing later, they aren't going to get what they set out for, than that is still a part of them learning how to push forward.

It is often a very common nature, to give up when the going gets tough but that is why we have parents. They are there to show us, that nothing comes easy in life and you must move forward.