How To Teach a child to learn from mistakes?

Getting upset when mistakes happen is natural and common in kids, as well as in parents. Do we let our kids learn from mistakes with our tendency to shield them from mistakes and react when they fail at any task?

Children often get worried thinking about how their parents would react upon knowing the mistake they made. Intimidating a child for disappointing you with his/her mistake takes away confidence from the child. Instead, showing them the brighter side by helping them learn valuable lessons from their mistakes empowers children and builds their confidence.

It is not possible to always stop your child from making a mistake. A child with the fear of failure won’t be willing to try anything new, as the child lacks confidence due to the fear of making mistakes or failing at a new task. Not letting your little one learn from mistakes and shielding your child constantly will keep your child from finding his/her voice and using it.

None of us can claim that we’ve not encountered failure at anything that we did or tried doing. At some point in life, we realize that the lessons we learned from our mistakes were helpful and have taught us to face challenges with confidence.

The lessons learned in childhood equip kids for their adulthood. They become capable of problem-solving, and decision-making. What you teach them in their childhood influences their overall development and these lessons stay with them as they enter the later stages of life.

Isn’t it crucial to be careful about how we respond to their mistakes? discouraging them out of anger and frustration is easy to do, but has a huge impact on their little minds. It could make them feel worthless and not let them learn from mistakes.

Tips to teach your child to learn from mistakes and use them as stepping stones to success:

• Admitting your mistake is not a shameful thing to do. Encourage your child to admit his/ her mistakes. Knowing that mistakes are a part of a learning process and not a fatal error, helps one to not repeat a mistake but remember the lessons learned from it.
• Be a role model. Adults make mistakes too. Do we admit them? Pointing -fingers is easy to do when people make mistakes. Giving up such culture is possible only when as adults, we own our mistakes with humility and do not try to hide them.
• Help him/her identify the reason behind the mistake or failure. Analyzing and identifying the reason behind your mistake helps you learn ways to do things differently and not repeat your mistake. This is a crucial step that helps you learn from mistakes and apply the lessons learned to grow and improve.
• Allow the child to explain. Don’t jump to a conclusion, no matter how tempting it is to do so. This allows the child to think, and open up confidently. On the contrary, judging a child constantly could shut her/him down.
• Empathize and help the child cope with the frustration. Try seeing a situation through your child’s eye and show that you understand.
• Tell about the lesson your child could learn from mistakes, and how it could help one grow and evolve. Remember to stay positive and calm as you do it.

Being mindful of the way we handle mistakes and the way we react to our child’s mistakes helps us not to take away confidence from the child. Children who learn to embrace failure, become resilient and creative, ready to face life with all it unfolds.

Do share in the comments, your ideas for helping kids use mistakes as opportunities and to learn life lessons.