![]() A child who practices gratitude is less prone to pessimism, has a greater sense of well-being and also experiences more positive emotions. There are many positive effects from a mindset of gratitude. If you display an attitude of helplessness (e.g., “It will never get better,” “This always happens to me,” “I knew it wouldn’t work” or “It’s impossible”), you model pessimistic behavior.īy portraying more optimistic behavior (e.g., “Things will get better soon,” “I’ll go listen to music to feel better” or “I’ll try again tomorrow”), you show your child that negative situations are temporary and can be overcome. But we also know that children learn how to react to life’s events by looking at how their parents and caregivers react to them. Martin Seligman, a researcher who has focused much of his work on optimism and pessimism, says that how your child reacts to the events in her life has an impact on whether she will develop an optimistic or pessimistic outlook on life. In other words, being able to come up with multiple explanations to a specific negative event makes it easier to deal with that event. Researchers from Kent State University found that asking people to explain events using alternative (not necessarily more optimistic) phrases led to a drop in pessimism. ![]() Helping kids reflect on current events is an easy way to help your children question their way of seeing things and showing them that they have control over how they react to the situations they encounter. A pessimistic disposition tends to make your children view negative events as permanent, and therefore gives them the impression that they are powerless to change them. The problem with always “seeing the glass as half empty” is that this view of life can become somewhat permanent and can spread to almost all areas of your child’s life. Help your child develop a more positive outlook on life Here are four ways to help your child develop a greater sense of optimism: 1. Optimistic children are also more likely to be resilient, to be better problem-solvers and to have a higher sense of well-being. The best news is that optimism is not an inherited skill - it can be practiced and learned. So how does this idea work for our kids? Behavioral science research indicates that the more your child displays an optimistic outlook on life, the lower their chances of depression, physical illness and psychological issues. It is to him that we owe the concept of tragic optimism, which means our ability to remain optimistic even in the face of tragic situations. He would later write in his book, “ Man’s Search for Meaning,” that the only thing that cannot be taken from us is our ability to choose our attitude, no matter the circumstances. ![]() Viktor was an Austrian Holocaust survivor. Viktor Frankl is a great example of the ability to shift one’s mindset from helplessness to hope. ![]() Even when confronting the most difficult situations, it is still possible to transform our sense of helplessness into something more positive. Science says that we are not powerless in the face of uncertainty. The trials of 2020 dealt us lots of practice in dealing with the unexpected. Last year was a very challenging year and everyone is hoping that 2021 will mark a return to some form of normality.
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