Scouts Canada free online resilience resource for kids
Scouts Canada is partnering with Dr. Robyne Hanley-Dafoe, a leading specialist in resiliency, to help children become more resilient. They have launched the Guide to Resilient Children, a free resource, to help kids develop resiliency by guiding them to navigate risk, stress and challenges in everyday life — and not just in a pandemic.
The guide offers everyday tips, practices, sustainable solutions, and age-appropriate goals to developing resiliency. And they cite research that supports that when children are resilient, they are braver, more curious, more adaptable, and better positioned to extend their reach into the world. Resilience is essential for coping with risk factors, challenges, uncertainty and stress, as well as for building positive mental health, emotional wellbeing, social relationships and academic achievement.
“Resiliency is not something we are born with, but something we are taught. That’s why Scouts Canada has partnered with expert Dr. Robyne Hanley-Dafoe to develop “The Guide to Resilient Children”. Scouts develop confidence and resiliency by taking on responsibility for selecting, planning and leading the adventures they want to pursue. Along the way, they learn a lot about themselves, their capabilities and working with others while tackling new challenges and experiencing new adventures. Now more than ever, we are committed to developing young leaders who are better prepared for success in the world”, says Andrew Price, Executive Commissioner and CEO of Scouts Canada.
Access the Guide to Resilient Children here.
The guide also outlines the role of outdoor play, a fundamental need for children, which has become even more limited as a result of the challenges related to the pandemic. Scouts Canada recognizes that outdoor play not only supports physical development, but also cognitive functioning such as the use of imagination, which fosters creativity and problem solving and , in an effort to get more kids to enjoy the outdoors, girls, boys and young adults aged five to 26 can Scout for free for the remainder of 2020. Families can sign up at Scouts.ca.
And on a global level, we have long seen how Scouting builds resilience for life, evident long before the 2020 pandemic, but made more visible in the public eye because of the challenges so many people have had to face this year. And we have the proof! The results of an independent study undertaken in 2017 to measure Scouting’s impact on the development of young people showed that the Scouts scored 7.2% higher on resilience than non-Scouts surveyed (based on surveys of young people in Kenya, Singapore and the UK). Full Impact Study here.
And more recently, Scouts Australia has partnered with Resilient Youth Australia to explore the impact of Scouting on young Australians. Results concluded that young people participating in Scouts report to demonstrate higher levels of resilience when compared to their non-Scouting peers, and this is consistent across a number of elements of resilience, including Positive Relationships, Social Skills, Understanding Self, Safe, Healthy Mind and Body, Positive Learners, Positive Identity, Positive Values and Positive Contribution. And furthermore, their Resilience Survey also revealed that Scouts report to have an overall better life satisfaction than their peers, and that the longer they stay in Scouts the more resilient they are likely to be. Download “The Scouting Effect” report and key findings of the Resilience Survey here.