Teaching a child to learn from mistakes

Getting upset when mistakes happen is natural and common in kids, as well as in parents. 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. 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 has an influence on 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.

Here are a few ways in which you can teach your child to use mistakes as stepping stones to success:

• Admitting your mistake is not a shameful thing to do. Encourage your child to admit his/ her mistakes.
• Be a role model. Adults make mistakes too. Do we admit them?
• Help him/her identify the reason behind the mistake or failure.
• Allow the child to explain. Don’t jump to a conclusion, no matter how tempting it is to do so.
• Empathize and help the child cope with the frustration.
• Tell about the lesson that could be learned from the mistake, which will be helpful in the future.

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 failures, 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.