Strengthening Family Resilience
Strengthening Family Resilience
!
There are an increasing number of external factors that affect youth and their
family units.
Poverty; a child hopes there is not another letter waiting at home, that
demands they move again.
Hunger; a child’s headache and weak body are distracting
him from answering questions on his math test.
Divorce; a child believes she is the
cause of her parents yelling and the reason dad moved away.
She is sad that she
barely gets to see her mom anymore, now that her mom has a job.
Abuse; a child
can’t understand why his teachers are disciplining him for pushing others.
His dad
pushes him and he even sees his dad hit his mom, but no one ever stops his dad.
Socioeconomic Status (SES); a child’s family cannot afford his hockey registration anymore, so he makes new friends hanging out in the streets.
Coupled with these
external factors for children are the internal stressors and worries that adults, like myself for example, face everyday.
There is the pressure to succeed academically as an adult
learner, the necessity to make mortgage and utility payments, provide for the family, and the desire to have acceptance among colleagues and loved ones.
!
In each of the scenarios described above, a child is a member of someone 's
family, a product of a learnt environment. neither are the children.
Families are not created equally, therefore,
As a future educator, it would be nice to think they are, to
think that all children will all begin and develop at the same level when they enter and continue through the education system.
However, we know for certain they will not, the
inequalities between children creates adversity and the resulting effects of this adversity will impact their development as students and as people and some will be defined as
“at-risk”.
1
Strengthening Family Resilience
!
Students from a low SES background are considered to be at an
!
There are an increasing number of external factors that affect youth and their
family units.
Poverty; a child hopes there is not another letter waiting at home, that
demands they move again.
Hunger; a child’s headache and weak body are distracting
him from answering questions on his math test.
Divorce; a child believes she is the
cause of her parents yelling and the reason dad moved away.
She is sad that she
barely gets to see her mom anymore, now that her mom has a job.
Abuse; a child
can’t understand why his teachers are disciplining him for pushing others.
His dad
pushes him and he even sees his dad hit his mom, but no one ever stops his dad.
Socioeconomic Status (SES); a child’s family cannot afford his hockey registration anymore, so he makes new friends hanging out in the streets.
Coupled with these
external factors for children are the internal stressors and worries that adults, like myself for example, face everyday.
There is the pressure to succeed academically as an adult
learner, the necessity to make mortgage and utility payments, provide for the family, and the desire to have acceptance among colleagues and loved ones.
!
In each of the scenarios described above, a child is a member of someone 's
family, a product of a learnt environment. neither are the children.
Families are not created equally, therefore,
As a future educator, it would be nice to think they are, to
think that all children will all begin and develop at the same level when they enter and continue through the education system.
However, we know for certain they will not, the
inequalities between children creates adversity and the resulting effects of this adversity will impact their development as students and as people and some will be defined as
“at-risk”.
1
Strengthening Family Resilience
!
Students from a low SES background are considered to be at an
Cited: Bernard, B. (2000, August). Fostering Resilience in Children. In Eric Digest. Retrieved February 13, 2011, from http://eric.ed.gov:80/PDFS/ED386327.pdf Building Community Resilience for Children and Families (2007, February 12). Retrieved February 13, 2011, from http://149.142.126.121/nctsn_assets/pdfs/edu_materials/ Adolescents. In Australian Institute of Criminology. Retrieved January 13, 2011, from http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/tandi/181-200/tandi183.aspx National Network for Family Resiliency Children, Youth and Families Network (1995). In Family Resiliency: Building Strengths to Meet Life 's Challenges