She learnt to say “no” this week. From pursed little lips it sprang, clear as the blue of her eyes. “No.” And again, practicing. “No.” Her 17-month-old face was delighted rather than deceitful as she formed the new word, parroting her Mum, the weight of that one syllable yet to dawn. And later, my sweet daughter had already forgotten the obnoxious, if petite, declaration. Phew! Well… not exactly.
Australian psychologist Andrew Fuller describes resilience as “the happy knack of being able to bungy jump through the pitfalls of life”. I know that feeling. One summer on a family holiday in Cairns I took the jump and felt that heady mix of trepidation and exhilaration, followed by the joy of accomplishment. I’ve known the same muddle of emotions when life has heaved with difficulty, when circumstance has greyed the horizon. Resilience is an imperative ingredient in life, but the social landscape of Australia is such that children are becoming adults without the ability to deal with the hardship that inevitably comes. Girls cop it worst. Like a flower amongst weeds they must navigate past issues of body image, the sexualised media, relationship breakdown, identity and so on. Learn resilience, or choke. It was while holding a clothes stall at a local market last weekend that I got talking to some women about resilience. Launcestonians Michelle Dingemanse and Kylea Aldred have a business called Little Bird that runs two programs for primary and high school-aged girls designed …
