1. “Bouncing back after bad stuff happens!” - or - “I get knocked down, but I get up again!”

2. What does RESILIENCE mean? RRRRESILIENCE means having an ability to recover after something bad has happened. AAAAt a personal level, it can mean how long it takes to feel better after an illness, or to feel ok again after having a poor day at school.

3. King Robert The Bruce  King Robert the Bruce of Scotland was defeated in battle.  As he was in danger, he found safety by hiding in a cave, where he stayed as he recovered from all he had been through.  He was extremely depressed and thought about giving up the Scottish throne and running away. Photo by Flickr user David A G Wilson and reproduced under Creative Commons LicenseCreative Commons License

4. King Robert & The Spider  Legend has it that as Robert the Bruce sat thinking, he noticed a spider building a web at the mouth of the cave.  The spider kept falling but each time it got up again and continued with building its web until it was finished.

5. What happened next…  Robert watched how the spider persevered.  He realised that the spider did not give up, each time there was a problem he picked himself up until he succeeded.  Robert the Bruce went back to his troops and tried again.  And he successfully won back his throne!

6. The famous moral of the tale is…. “If at first you don’t succeed. Try, try and try again”

7.  Robert the Bruce learnt about resilience.  Resilience features in lots of other stories - for example ‘The Three Little Pigs’, ‘Harry Potter’, and ‘Cinderella’.  Can you think of some more? Photo by Flickr user johnmuk and reproduced under Creative Commons LicenseCreative Commons License

8. Planet Earth – Resilient?  It’s not just characters in young children's stories who need to be resilient.  What about Planet Earth, threatened by climate change?  What about New Orleans, devastated by hurricanes and floods?