The 7 C’s of resilience is a framework that helps you and your little ones build lasting resilience.
Many of us think of resilience as pure toughness, or the ability to bounce back, but there’s far more to building and maintaining resilience, especially when it comes to children and young adults.
Our love is the most protective, enduring force we offer our children.
Kenneth R. Ginsburg
The 7 C’s of resilience, as described by Dr. Kenneth Ginsberg, are a set of integral and interrelated components that make up resilience. These include competence, confidence, connection, character, contribution, coping and control.
In his excellent book, Building Resilience in Children and Teens, Ginsburg (a professor of pediatrics in the division of adolescent medicine at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine) details the crucial 7 C’s and teaches parents how to foster them within their kids.
The 7 C’s of resilience are:
1. Competence
2. Confidence
3. Connection
4. Character
5. Contribution
6. Coping
7. Control
If you’re a parent, like me, then you’ll know how stressful it can be. There’s no blueprint and most of the time, you feel like you’re making it up as you go along.
One day, you’re winning, and the next, you’re facing another crises.
Helping your kids understand and develop the 7 C’s can pave the way for success in school, sports and life. It gives them more tools and more bandwidth to navigate the many challenges that they’ll face, and it strengthens the bond between you.
You’ll also find that in teaching the 7 C’s, you will steadily re-enforce them within yourself. Pay close attention and you’ll learn as much from your children as they learn from you.
Resilience is at the very heart of our wellbeing and our survival, so the earlier in life that we can cultivate it, the better.