THRIVE

Mistakes 

Increasingly kids seem to be terrified of stepping outside of their comfort zone and making mistakes. The problem is, this is where the magic happens. It is when we take risks and try new things that we learn and grow. Our job is to help children see failure as a part of the pathway to success and that the goal is progress not perfection. Think about the first time we learnt to ride a bike, we probably fell but we got back up, tried again and again, soon it becomes so automatic that it become what psychologist call an ‘associative task’ where our brains don’t even have to concentrate to be able to do it, it’s almost automatic. It can be easy to look at the success or achievements of others with envy but sometimes we don’t see all the hard work, sacrifice and failure that led to that success.  

The iceberg illusion sums this up beautifully. What we see on the surface is the incredible achievement but hidden beneath the surface is all the hard work and dedication. 

Tips

• Encourage your child to try new things or do things differently. Small changes to routines and new experiences can help develop their confidence.
• Remind your child of one of their achievements and the effort or set-backs that experienced.
• Share some examples of your own failures or some of the famous failures. For example

             - Walt Disney was fired from his job at a newspaper for lacking imagination.

             - Michael Jordan missed more than 9000 shots in his career and was cut from his                    team in high-school.

             - Thomas Edison was fired from his first two jobs for being 'non-productive' and                       made 1000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb.

             - J.K Rowling was broke and 12 publishers rejected her book before she published                  Harry Potter.

Resources

Children’s book- Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg

Children’s book- It’s ok to make mistakes by Todd Parr