Learn From Mistakes

Your child spent two weeks gluing popsicle sticks together for a school project that’s due today.  They spent so much time working on the project and it looks amazing!  (At this point, we run for the phone and make sure there are pictures so we can celebrate their victory later.) 

It’s time to leave for school and they pick up their project to take it to the car.  However, on the way to the car, the project is sliding all over the board it’s on.  They forgot to glue it to the board.  Before you know it, there are popsicle sticks all over the sidewalk and your child is standing there in tears.  What do you do?

Give them time to process the situation.  After a good amount of comfort and allowing them to cry (crying makes them feel better),  they have to figure out the next steps.  This is where you allow them to fail and learn from their mistakes.  Ask them what went wrong and what they could do differently next time.  Make sure they understand that we all fail at things in life.  It’s important to learn from what happened so that you know what not to do the next time.

Celebrating their wins is a great way to boost their self-esteem.  However, it’s important to remember to celebrate their failures too.  Failure is not a bad thing.  Failure is a stepping stone to better things as long as you remember to learn from the mistakes you made.

Some time today ask your children what they failed at.  But remember to ask them what they learned from the experience and what they will do to make it better the next time.  This is how you learn from your mistakes.  It’s an important lesson for each and every one of us to learn.