Why and How to Build Resilience in Toddlers

When a baby is born, their natural resistance to all of the diseases and illnesses in the world is minimal, at best. By the time they reach the toddler stage and are on the move, you can no longer shelter them from summer illnesses and other parts of their world. Thus they will have built up some natural resistance to germs and bacteria. But why is that important and how do you encourage a resilient and independent child as a parent?

You aren’t Born With It

One thing that parents might not be aware of is that immunities to disease and illness are something that needs to develop over time. The way your body protects you is by experiencing small amounts of a virus and learning how to fight it off. Because of this, overprotective parents need to be careful.

For example, if you are constantly sanitizing, wiping down, and washing away every little thing, your child is not going to get the opportunity to be exposed to anything harmful. That means they also aren’t going to be able to build any sort of resistance.

Thus, you need to find a balance between sanitizing and letting things happen naturally.

How to Build Resilience in Toddlers

Allowing your child to build up natural immunities and resistances is one of the most important factors of them staying healthy and well.

There are a few things you can do to help promote a healthy immune system in your toddler. By choosing to feed your toddler with an Aptamil toddler nutrition formula, for example, you are giving your child everything they need to start building resilience.

However, you also need to know when you are being overprotective, and when to just let kids be kids. They need to experience some things in life in order to build the correct immunities.

Continue reading to discover some other steps you can take to give your young one a leg up with resilience.

Dirt isn’t Just for Pigs and Dogs

If you are someone who always errs on the side of caution when it comes to life, it can be difficult to simply let your child explore and get their hands dirty. In your mind, you might be imagining the worst possible outcomes.

But in your backyard, for instance, it’s okay for your kids to go out and explore, have fun, and get a little dirty. With proper nutrition, your toddler will already have a head start on how to build resilience.

So, let them go out and play outside in the dirt; it’s going to be better for them overall. It’s okay if your toddler gets the sniffles or a little bit of a cold as it helps their body learn how to fight it off.

Let Your Guard Down Sometimes

A child is certainly someone who needs extra protection to keep them safe, but that doesn’t mean you have to keep the boy or girl in a bubble. Kids are meant to explore and play, get a bit messy, and even hurt themselves now and then. If you overprotect your child, they will not experience and learn everything they are supposed to in childhood.

So, let your toddler run around and investigate things. If your little one falls and skins their knee, that’s perfectly fine, just be there to clean it up and kiss it better.

They need to learn about getting hurt, and their immune system needs to learn how to protect them. Everything is going to be fine if you let your guard down a little bit.

Life Needs to be Experienced

It may seem difficult not to wrap your toddler up in protective bubble wrap and hide them from the world. It is your natural instinct as a parent to do anything to protect your own child.

However, you have to keep in mind that babies have been surviving for millennia without being smothered by mum or dad. Furthermore, your child needs to start building their resilience up as soon as possible, and they can’t do that if they never get to do anything.

You have to relax a bit, let your child do what they are meant to do, and just keep an eye out for anything major happening. More than likely the worst thing you will deal with is a bruised ego as you watch their independence develop over time.

Do you know a “helicopter parent” or a parent who is overly protective of their kids?