As my oldest daughter matures I see a lot of myself in her. Every night we sit down and I help her with her homework. Or sometimes I just sit there as company in case she needs a little extra help. It is apart of our nightly routine. The other night while I was helping her I noticed she inherited one of my personal traits. One of the traits from deep inside. A trait most of us have. She strives to be the best. And with that comes disappointment at failure and easily getting frustrated. At that moment I knew it was the perfect opportunity to have a talk with her about how we are our worst critique
After she struggled with sounding out a bigger word during homework session she started to get frustrated and then opened up to me and says, "I don't like it when I get something wrong. I don't like it when I get a word wrong when I'm reading or a math problem wrong in math." As she opened up to me I felt terrible that she also feels that way. I then explained to her that I sometimes feel that way too. I proceeded with some examples so she would understand. I think it's important for kids to know their not the only ones feeling a certain way. I continued to explain to her that it's okay to get frustrated but sometimes we are our own worst critiques and that's when practicing comes in.
I continued to explain to my oldest that we can be our own worst critiques. I think it helped at least a little bit? As a week passed by, I was cleaning out her school back pack. I noticed a paper that I pulled out. It was like a questionnaire about what that want to excel at, what they want to be great at and so on. I noticed reading and math were on there more than once. As a parent I felt proud that she is working so hard. But at the same time I hope I can continue to help her understand it's okay to be wrong here and there. It's okay to goof up.
After all practice does not make perfect, it makes us better and smarter.
- Let them know it's okay to fail
- Have a talk with your child about a time when you have failed or weren't great at something.
- Make sure your child knows your always there.
- Practice and studying is key.
- We don't give up.
Do you have a child who is also strives to be the best and competitive?
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