Resilience and the Arts

It is a known fact that telling one's story bolsters resilience. As readers, we see resilience bolstered in both fiction and non-fiction literature as the protagonist's tell the story about themselves. For instance, in Maya Angelou's I Know Why A Cage Bird Sings, young Maya illustrates her brutal childhood but also her buffers which are writing and reading. Therapists see resilience bolstered in their clients as they reveal facts about themselves. Telling one's story is self-empowering. In fact, the more children know about their family history, the more resilient they are. Our capstone class was shocked to hear that the children who are most resilient were not those who played sports, were not those who made honors, but were simply those who knew their family's history. Knowing one's family history makes a child grounded in the past but also aware of the present. Author, Bruce Feiler, of New York Times article The Stories That Bind Us, has come up with a scale of twenty questions. Children who are able to answer most of the twenty questions about their families are more resilient.  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/fashion/the-family-stories-that-bind-us-this-life.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0


Given this grand information on resiliency, I have made it by goal to become a resiliency mentor for children. I spent my summer doing an independent study working on bolstering the resiliency of ten children through the arts. I planned art activities for children that would involve their families. For instance, one activity I planned was called Climbing Your Own Family Tree. The goal of this art project was for children to use Bruce Feiler's twenty questions, interview their parents, and create an artistic family tree of information they learned, and or scrapbook of information gained. I wanted to enrich youth of their knowledge and background of family history because it is proven that the children who are more knowledge about their families history, both the positives and conflict, are more resilient- meaning more capable of completing challenging tasks and tackling adversity. The reasoning behind this claims that a supportive family is, in the terminology of resilience theory, a protective factor for children; or an element that help children resist risk. The children were challenged and encouraged to visually represent the newly enriched and attained knowledge about their family by creating a collage or family tree using actual family photos. This knowledge includes both positive (happy) times and times of conflict.
 

               During the time of this independent study, I also created a workbook. Using my knowledge of both the arts and child development, I have created an inspiring workbook for girls ages 10+ to bolster their resiliency, improve sociability skills,  and help them to develop to their full potential. In fact, children who are resilient are “temperamentally more alert, cheerful, responsive, self-confident, and more independent than children of the same age and sex” (Young Children, 2001). Resilience is a behavior that is both innate and can be learned. It is critical that resiliency is developed at a young age so that children know how to overcome adverse situations, whether it be a fight with a friend on the playground or as severe as a battle with a disease (as in my case). I consider myself a resiliency mentor for young children— one who has a significant impact on the lives of children within the social and familial environment and am taking action through art and through my book.