Optimism - Fostering Optimism Daily

Fostering optimism each day is a superpower you can help your child develop and consistently build on. Everyone has an attitude, and it's either positive or negative. Optimism is a mental attitude that focuses on positive outcomes regardless of the current challenges.

Mental Health

Being optimistic means being positive about the future rather than focusing on the doom and gloom of a current situation. Optimism is a mental attitude and doesn't mean ignoring challenges or denying negative feelings. Attitudes impact mental health, and rather than lean towards depression, it gives a sense of hope for the future.

Teach your child that when negative things happen, they help them become stronger emotionally and contribute to building their character. Sometimes, this could mean a considerable life-changing experience. Other times, it could seem huge, but when they are older and think about the situation, they will realise it was a good thing—such as making new friends because the people they thought were their friends treated them unkindly.

Realising that good things can happen, even when things are rough, is a way to practice optimism by looking on the bright side. Sometimes, it's hard to see when you're in the dark, but there's always a light of hope ahead.

Expectations

Let your child know there will be difficult times at every stage of life, and that's when we learn our greatest lessons. Sometimes, they will make a mistake and learn a lesson from it; other times, it is beyond their control. It is also the time to let them know that you are there for them to help them through.

As a parent, you can ask your child what their favourite part of the day was and share yours. Talk about others overcoming their struggles and model optimism through examples.

There are plenty of storybooks for toddlers, so you could praise your child and tell them they are doing great when learning to read, write, spell, do maths, or draw. Your encouragement helps them see challenges as opportunities and encourages a growth mindset.

There's a quote by Kahlil Gibran - 'The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns; the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious of the rose.' By teaching your child about optimism and the other character traits of the week, you enable them to recognise what to avoid and learn to handle the rose because they know about the thorns.

Choice

Thorns hurt, life lessons hurt, but there's beauty to see, admire and share. Children need to know that life has its ups and downs, that they have control over their mindset, and that they can choose to be optimistic, and when they're not feeling it, have the trust and faith that they will see the positives in a situation in the future, if not now.

We've all heard the expression 'fear of the unknown', and we all have it. Anything we are not familiar with, whether it's a good or not-so-good experience, is scary. Be honest yet tactful with your child, and inform them that life isn't all sunshine and roses. Everyone, including them, will have stories of challenges and difficulties to share with others when they are older.

Knowing this helps your child realise that there are life lessons we all go through, it's not just them, and everyone's problems are different from other people's, even though there might be similarities.

Being optimistic, reflecting on the positives of their day, and discovering what others appreciate about their day provide them with the knowledge and skills to manage their mental health and support their friends in doing the same.

It's the little things, like sharing their favourite part of the day, what they are grateful for today, discussing how a story character might feel in a particular part of the story, learning that adults also have hard times, and trusting positive outcomes.

There's a lot of power in optimism, and children need to learn that they can look at things positively or negatively and recognise how they're feeling.

Both feelings are valid and OK, but it's not good to dwell for too long on the negative. So remember the positive, and that's that you are there to support, guide, and help them through it—always. Now that's a positive!