Emotional and Physical Environment

An Atmosphere Characterized By Warmth, Respect And Acceptance Can Positively Affect A Child’s Ability To Develop Prosilience.

Friendships

Fostering friendships can involve large and small group activities. Singing inclusive songs or playing games to help the child understand the concept of a community and more specifically, who is included in theirs.

Pictures of children playing together and separately throughout the classroom can help to build a sense of both identity and also belonging.

Children can benefit from small groups in which they are able to get to know each other better. This can include small walks, activities, sing along, movement, etc. As mentioned earlier, Rana in particular may enjoy small group play as a way to help ease her into her new community.

Early Childhood Importance of Prosilience

As long as Rana’s educating team is focusing on and trying to help Rana find her footing in her new environment, they are doing all they can do promote her own prosilience. Knowing how she responded to a male voice can help give them a picture of how her old school may have been and will give them ideas of how to move forward to help her feel confident and more in control of her new environment. Without her educators there to help her figure this out, Rana could struggle a lot with friendships, communication and especially her own feelings of self-confidence and ability to adapt to a new environment.

Resilient individuals are not resilient on their own. As educators, we can positively impact children's prosilience development. The concept of prosilience puts its focus on resources and competences, combined with the power of positive thinking. It is about mobilizing resources and eliminating or minimizing the negative impact of adversity on the path of development; how children cope with stress and mature to competent and mentally healthy adults (Siegel D. J., 2018).