Every parent has ever wondered how to raise happy children. Cultivating good practices in raising them will be very useful to forge their personality and resilience, helping them to overcome possible adverse moments during their life. Antonella Galli, a psychologist specializing in cognitive behavioral psychotherapy at our clinic, gives us some keys to educate happy and resilient children:

• Encourage and reinforce their skills. Identify in which activity they excel, for example, sports, art, music, etc. Reinforce their attributes and strengths and understand them when they make mistakes, encouraging them to keep going.
• Respect their personality. If your child is an introvert, do not judge him/her and help him/her to socialize through virtual workshops, sports and recreation activities. If he/she is more outgoing and very communicative, respect him/her equally so that he/she feels good about the way he/she is. There are children who are more resilient to problems, others are sensitive to rejection or criticism, etc.
• See how he/she behaves at home. See if he/she solves problems or gets frustrated easily. Teach him/her to have self-control, to be calm, to breathe, lead him/her to his/her room until he/she feels good, etc. These practices will help you face the little frustrations of the day to day and will increase his/her resilience.
• Recognize their accomplishments and praise them. Congratulate him/her on his/her achievements no matter how small they seem, if he/she got good grades, fulfilled his/her homework or helped with chores at home, etc. It is essential that the child feel loved, this reinforces their self-esteem.
• Take into account the type of discipline taught. Many times, we repeat with our children the same pattern of our parents. If you see your child happy, motivated, serene, and complying with the rules of the home, then the rules you have established work; otherwise, it’s never too late to begin a change.

Remember, it is important to devise our own patterns in raising our children. Seek psychological counseling or a parenting school, they will help you learn to assertively correct the behavior of your children.

Antonella Galli
Psychologist at Clinica Ricardo Palma