Suppose that everyone in your class except you got an invitation to a party. You would probably feel rejected. Maybe your mother or father had a job interview but the employer gave the job to someone else. How long did it take you or your parents to get over the feelings of rejection?

Everyone experiences rejection at some point in their lives. Adults experience rejection in their work or families, and younger people might be rejected by their friends or others. Rejection can be difficult, but it is important to deal with it well. Learning to handle rejection might be one of the most important things to help you in the future.

When you experience rejection, people might tell you not to think about it. Still, most people need some time to grieve and to think about what has happened. Then talk to an adult that you trust, whether that is a teacher, parent, or grandparent. The person you talk to might be able to give you some good advice, but you also need to know yourself and what you need to get past the rejection.

Something that might be helpful is to think back to another time when you experienced rejection. How did you handle that time? Did you talk to your friends or spend time walking your dog? Maybe you just need a bit of time away from people so that you can calm your mind and decide what to do next.

Rejection can hurt, but it is important to remember that your character is more important than what you achieve. Rejection can help people learn about life and decide what they value the most. If you fail a test, you could decide to work harder the next time but at the same time not worry about getting top marks. If your friends reject you, maybe you could spend some time helping the homeless or working at another project where you can meet people.

Exploring new options and adapting to your situation is important. Suppose that you tried to join a club but weren’t allowed in. You could start your own club or decide to start walking dogs or doing something else that you enjoy.

If you can restore the relationships that are broken, that can help a lot. Even if that might not be possible, you can learn new ways of coping and become stronger through that. People who never experience difficulties might not be very emotionally strong, but people who have successfully dealt with problems will normally be even better at handling rejection the next time.

Sometimes, people have special ways of dealing with rejection. They might write a story, read books that help them to understand themselves and other people better, or go outside to get some fresh air when they feel sad. If possible, they might want to go talk to the people who rejected them. What are some of the ways that that you deal with problems in your life?

Rejection is never fun, but learning to deal with it is an important part of life. If you can find creative ways of dealing with it, you will have a valuable skill to help you later in life.
Bibliography:

Goss, Heather Vale. “How to Help Your Child Overcome Rejection.” https://www.education.com/mag azine/article/child-overcome- rejection/.

Kidspot.com. “Teaching Your Kids to Handle Rejection.” http://www.kidspot.com.au/parenting/parenthood/parenting- style/teaching-your-kids-to- handle-rejection/news-story/a3 e31b135a4677660a900093abfd5ecb.

Prudente, Katherine. “How to Help Kids Deal With Rejection.”  https://childmind.org/ article/how-to-help-kids-deal- with-rejection/.

Wikihow.com. “How to Handle Rejection.” https://m.wikihow.com/Handle- Rejection.