Resources
3 Ways to Teach Your Child to Accept and Learn from Failure
The year 2020, for many reasons, has most of the world’s population feeling the heavy burden of failure on our shoulders. People in the workforce are feeling as though they are, in many cases, inept to work around the restrictions of the pandemic. Even students from kindergarten all the way through college are feeling the pressures of navigating new online tools to help them learn and pass classes. Since most of us do not have the experience of working and learning through a pandemic, we are faced with failures. Hopefully, we are also growing through those failures. Failure, when handled with the right mindset, does not have to be a negative experience. Sure, we would all like to get things right the first time. However, failure is an inevitable part of life and it is possible to transform our shame from failure into acceptable, self-forgiveness, and growth.
So, why do so many of us spend time feeling embarrassed over failures when these mishaps are experiences everyone has throughout life? From an early age, many of us were taught that failing is a source of great shame and should be hidden. Every parent’s dream is to raise a child who has compassion, courageous enough to chase their wildest dreams, and resilient enough against life’s normal setbacks that they can bounce back and persevere. In order for our children to build great characters, they must obtain the skills to grow from their failures.
Teaching children to acknowledge failure and grow from the experience involves a delicate balance. On one hand, we want to save them from their mistakes so they do not have to feel the sting of failure. And, on the other hand, we know they cannot learn to overcome and grow from failure if they are never allowed to fail. So, how do we allow our children to fail while also encouraging them to learn from their failures? Here are three helpful steps to take in teaching children how to acknowledge their failures and grow from the experience.