To succeed in life, you need to develop resilience – as the song goes, you often have to "get up, dust yourself off and start all over again."

Tonight MSPEC will help parents learn to instill that quality in their children in a program titled, Resilience: Turning Stress Into Success.

Psychologists Neil Litinger and Dan Gallagher, who have brought popular parenting programs to MSPEC in the past, will lead the program, which begins at 7 p.m. at the Education Center.

Litinger and Gallagher have extensive experience working with children, adolescents, parents, and families in private practice as well as with community-based organizations. They work to develop positive growth-oriented strategies for classroom and home behavior and success by helping kids and families realize that their strengths are always available to overcome their weaknesses.

MSPEC’s leaders say this program will be one of the most important they host all year because all children can possess and develop resilience, regardless of their  special challenges. They point to people like Albert Einstein, Woodrow Wilson, Thomas Edison, as well as current celebrities Tom Cruise, Bill Gates, Danny Glover and author Patricia Polacco, all of whom struggled with learning and other challenges yet managed to harness their differences and turn them into success. 

While parents cannot remove the barriers that young people will face they can help them by teaching them how to: 

• Honestly evaluate and not over emphasize their challenges, both external and internal.
• Recognize and build upon their strengths.
• Develop resilience and coping skills.
• Bounce back from disappointment.
• Think creatively and imaginatively in solving problems and overcoming obstacles.
• Define success inclusive of, but not dominated by, grades and test results.