Understanding Defiant Behaviour & Cultivating Resilience

Suitable for all early learning professionals and parents.

Presenter: Colleen Drobot

You’re Not the Boss of Me!

Children are naturally inclined to resist and oppose when feeling pressed upon or controlled. Although the reaction is quite normal and even healthy in certain circumstances, its manifestations and impact can be highly disruptive, making life difficult for educators, childcare providers, and parents. It can create significant challenges in both the learning and behavioural spheres. Colleen will discuss the meaning of this deep-rooted instinct and the dynamics that control its existence and expression. She will provide strategies to help adults reduce the effects of oppositional behaviour and deepen attachment and cooperation with children.

Supporting Children Face Vulnerability & Gain Resilience

Humans are some of the most adaptive creatures on the planet. Many of us are able to overcome adversity and find creative solutions to our problems, but unfortunately this is not the case for everyone. Raising resourceful and resilient children has never been more important. Children must face disappointment, loss, and circumstances they cannot change. How can we cultivate resilience so that children will not only endure these experiences, but will be able to gain strength and confidence in their ability to cope with them? In this presentation, Colleen will uncover the roots of resilience and offer ideas as to how we can foster this process in children. She will also include how to handle meltdowns and frustration without harming the relationship between adult and child.

Colleen Drobot is a registered professional counsellor with a private practice in North Vancouver. She provides therapy for adults and offers parent consulting using a developmental, attachment-based approach. She also works with school districts and other professionals to help make sense of children and adolescents. She is an educator with over 20 years of experience working with children in a regular classroom or in special needs settings. She is an adjunct faculty member of the Neufeld Institute and has worked with Dr. Gordon Neufeld for many years.