Have you ever wondered, “What enables some individuals to bounce back from diversity?” The September 2013 issue of Educational Leadership magazine contained an article about a book on RESILIENCY called Resilience: The Science of Mastering Life’s Greatest Challenges by Steven M. Southwick and Dennis S. Charney.  In the book the authors identify 10 roots of resilience:  realistic optimism, facing fear, a moral compass, religion and spirituality, social support, resilient role models, physical fitness, brain fitness, cognitive and emotional flexibility, and meaning and purpose.  For each of these factors, the authors provide stories, a discussion of the neuroscience involved, and practical ways for individuals to strengthen that factor within themselves.  Why be concerned with our children’s resiliency?  Because 59.4% of U.S. adults surveyed had experienced at least one of eight “adverse childhood experiences.”  Of these, 29.1% had a substance abuser in their household when growing up, 26.6% experienced parental separation or divorce and 16.3% witnessed domestic violence as a child.  Even if our children haven’t experienced any of these, they will most likely face some adverse situation at some point in their lives so developing some resiliency muscles can’t hurt.