Kids and Failure

I don't know about your kids, but mine aren't good with failure.

They both take piano lessons [taught by yours truly], and boy oh boy - if they don't get something right the first time, it's crisis-time. I don't know how many times I have had to give them mini-lectures...er, I mean pep-talks about how you need to put effort in to get success. If you got it all right the first time, there would be no point in having lessons, etc, etc...

Same thing with when we play games together. They are getting better at this, but sometimes when they don't win it can cause a bit of a scene. We never played games with them "letting" them win; we wanted them to get used to the fact that sometimes they will lose...and that's okay.

As adults we still struggle with this, so it's understandable that it happens in kids too!

But how do we make them realize that failing doesn't have to be negative? That failing is okay.

I came across a blog post that talked about exactly this. You can read the post here if you want it in its entirety [and you should!] but here's a quote from the post that I wanted to share with you:

"If you raise your kids to make the connections between practice and failing and learning, you set them up powerfully for a lifetime."

Nobody succeeds all the time; everybody fails. But it's what you do with those failures that makes all the difference.  The post goes on to say:

"The easiest path to empowerment is to choose an attitude that is powerful in the face of everything life brings. And one of the most important places to have a great attitude is with failing. Give your kids a framework they can work with their entire lives!"

What is YOUR attitude when it comes to failure in your own life? Remember that your children are always watching...and how you react to these kinds of situations may end up playing out with how your children react in similar situations. Are you setting the example that failure is okay?

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My name is Andrea (Andi) and I have the privilege of working part-time alongside Pam to help her with "a little of this and a little of that" as she strives to bring superb customer service to all of you through her Tiny TreeHugger business.

I am a 34-year-old mostly stay-at-home mother of two girls (aged 7 and 9) and have been happily married for almost 12 years. I am a Pepsi-loving, game-playing, guitar-learning, Nutella-craving girl [among many other things that make me ME]. I cloth-diapered my girls when they were babies and enjoyed the cost savings as well as the feeling of
helping the environment - one cloth diaper at a time.

Thanks for checking in and I'll see you again both on this blog and on Facebook!