For Families

DCRC is committed to promoting partnerships between the most important adults in a child’s life, namely, parents (and other family members) and teachers.

The resources offered in this section will provide families with ideas, activities, strategies and resources that promote resilience and social and emotional health in Preschoolers.

For Professionals Supporting Families

Your Journey Together (YJT) is a strength-based curriculum designed to promote the social and emotional well-being and resilience of vulnerable children and their families. The YJT curriculum focuses on empowering parents to promote safe, trusting, and healing environments—all key elements of a trauma sensitive program. Click here to learn more.

Resilience and Social-Emotional Health

You might know people who have faced great risk but continue to find success and happiness despite the odds against them. They have resilience, the ability to “bounce back” from misfortune or change. Resilient people tend to have something in their lives that helps them overcome challenges and move on in positive ways. These strengths that help resilient people bounce back are protective factors.

We know that protective factors can be found in:

Your environment: The world around you (like a caring community, access to health care, and other needed resources)
Your family: Those who matter the most to you (like extended family and nurturing friends)
Yourself: Your abilities and inner strenghts (like being a good problem-solver or an honest person)

All of the above types of protective factors are important. The protective factors found within you can be strengthened, despite risk or adversity in the environment or family.

The Devereux Center for Resilient Children (DCRC) works together with families and caregivers to strengthen three specific protective factors for children. These protective factors have been found to help children be better prepared for school and life and include:

Attachment/Relationships: Attachment/Relationships is a child’s ability to promote and maintain mutual, positive connections with other children and significant adults.
Initiative: Initiative is the child’s ability to use independent thought and action ro meet his or her needs.
Self-Regulation: Self-Regulation is the child’s ability to express emotions and manage behaviors in healthy ways.

These three protective factors are central in our assessments, strategies, and resources. Perhaps your program is using the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment Preschool Program, Second Edition, but even if your child’s program uses another tool to measure resilience and social emotional health, our site provides a wealth of ideas to strengthen these three protective factors. For more information, contact deca@devereux.org.

Tips and Strategies That Promote Resilience

Below are suggestions taken from Promoting Resilience For Now and Forever. Tips and strategies are listed to help promote and strengthen each of the three DCRC protective factors for preschoolers; Initiative, Self-Regulation, and Attachment/Relationships.

You can also download this handout for a list of tips to support resilience in young children.

Support Initiative In Preschoolers

Get involved in your child’s play. Ask questions to help her express her ideas. Showing your care about what she is interested in helps build her confidence.
Let your child teach you how to do something. Preschoolers love to be in charge. Let him explain what to do and show how to do it. This helps him practice his initiative.
Involve your child in doing simple tasks. Preschoolers can help set the table, make a bed, feed a pet, and more. Make sure the task is on that is safe and that your child can handle. They will love feeling independent, and like they are really helping!

Support Self-Regulation In Preschoolers

Help your child learn to calm down when frustrated. For example, count to 10 or take a few deep breaths. Help your child learn to say, “This is hard for me. I am getting frustrated. Can you help?”
Talk about it, later. When your child throws a tantrum or has very strong feelings about something, wait until he is calm to talk about it. Children cannot reason when they are driven by emotion. Talking about it at a calmer time will help you and your child talk calmly about what could happen differently the next time.
Have simple rules and be consistent. Rules help children learn to make good choices. Be as consistent as possible. If a rule needs to change, explain why, and for how long. If you are not consistent, children will think that rule is not real, and are less likely to follow it.

Support Attachment/Relationships In Preschoolers

Hug and cuddle together. Safe, loving touch can help you bond with your child. Try to give your child warm hugs, kisses, and touches throughout the day. If your child does not enjoy hugs, find other ways to connect like high fives, thumbs up, a gently pat on the back, or simply, a smile.
Use your child’s name often. Children love to hear their own names. Sometimes we get busy and we can find ourselves quickly giving our directions without making them personal. Using your child’s name regularly helps them know you are paying attention to him, and what he is doing.
Help your child learn to make and keep friends. Children don’t always know how to play with others in kind and appropriate ways. Provide suggestions of things to try and words to use, like, “May I have a turn?” or “Would you like to pull this wagon with me?”

For a list of children’s books that support resilience, click here!

Activities to Do With Your Preschooler

Promoting Protective Factors with Your Child

Selected from Promoting Resilience For Now & Forever (Preschool Edition)

DCRC has a wonderful, award winning resource called, Socially Strong Emotionally Secure: 50 Activities to Promote Resilience in Young Children. We offer free downloads of all our activities, just for parents, just for YOU!!!

Activities To Promote Resilience At Home Through Supportive Interactions

Activity Title	This activity can be found in the book on page…
Give Me a Hand	17
When We Were Little; Now That We’re Big!	19
President for a Day	22
That’s My Name!	25
Let Me Show You	28
Feelings Quilt	30
Puppet Talk	33
Family & Friendship Fruit Salad	35
Negotiation Station	38
Message Center	40

Activities To Promote Resilience At Home Through School And Home Partnerships

Activity Title	This activity can be found in the book on page…
Family Show and Tell	45
My Family Photo Album	47
Pass the Message Baton	49
I Can Take Care of Me	52
The Best Messenger	54
Bright Beginning, Happy Endings	57
Positive Postcards	60
A Kiss I Can Keep	62
Responsibility Apple Tree	64
Talking About Mistakes	67

Activities To Promote Resilience At Home Through Activities And Experiences

Activity Title	This activity can be found in the book on page…
The “Perfect Pair”	73
Find Delight Now, Catch Up Later	75
Our Welcome Wreath	77
Don’t FLIP Out, Use FLIP IT!	79
Turn That Frown Upside Down	80
Our Parade of Flags	82
Relaxation in a Bottle	84
Follow Your Leader	87
Our Family Flag	89
Still as Statues	91
Everyone’s Pet	93

Activities To Promote Resilience At Home Through Daily Routines

Activity Title	This activity can be found in the book on page…
Clothespin Pictoral Schedule	99
A Star Marks the Spot	101
On the Dance Floor	103
It’s My Choice	106
Let’s Pretend Charades	108
Leave a Little Wiggle Room	111
It’s Almost Time	113
Together We’re Better	115
Something to Talk About	118
A Season for Cleaning	121

Activities To Promote Resilience At Home Through The Play And Learning Environment

Activity Title	This activity can be found in the book on page…
Individual Theme Kits	128
Walking on My Knees for You	130
Where Does it Go?	132
The Be-By-Myself Box	135
Wall of Fame	138
My Family Place Mats	140
Cups of Fun	142
All About Me	145
Let’s Get Physical	148
Free the Toys!	150

Click here to download the “Emotions Photos”

To purchase additional copies of Socially Strong, Emotionally Secure: 50 Activities to Promote Resilience in Young Children, by Nefertiti Bruce and Karen Cairone with the Devereux Center for Resilient Children, click here!