Success is often celebrated among families – whether it’s winning a championship game or scoring good grades in school.
But society has long preached failure is a bad thing, claiming losing means somehow one isn’t “good enough” or “acceptable.”
The truth is, failure can be a gift and can even help you succeed in life if you learn from it and use it well.
So if your child is bummed out about failing in an endeavor, help them see the silver lining of failure and teach them these important lessons.
A Chance To Reassess
Perhaps your child has been focused on the wrong things all along.
Maybe they secretly want to be an artist or writer, but they’ve been conditioned to believe sports are more popular.So each year they try out for the team and don’t make it.
And this continued failure leads to more shame and depression.
Sure, your child can practice and get better, and maybe that is the solution.
But then again, maybe it isn’t.
If your child is only choosing to play sports because everyone else is, but their true heart is in the arts, then use this as a chance to help them reassess their hobbies.
Consider enrolling them in art classes, or buy them a journal to practice their writing skills.
When children apply their passion to their hobbies and learn to hone in a skill they actually like, their increased confidence leads to joy, which can then lead to success.
Help Them Realize They Aren’t Always The Best
When a child is small, they think they can do anything!
And if you’re always telling them they are the smartest kid in the room or the most talented, they’ll be shocked to learn when they come into contact with other children that this isn’t true.
While it’s good to encourage your child, parents must be careful to not puff up their ego too much, or they’ll be crushed once they enter the real world.
Instead, help your child excel in the areas they are strongest.
If they love science, consider purchasing some STEM toys to help build their mind.
Should they have a musical ear, consider signing them up for music lessons or letting them have an instrument at home to play.
Teach your child they may be good in many areas, but there will always be others who are better, and that’s okay!
By helping them understand they don’t need to be the best at everything they do it will help take the pressure off of them to constantly excel and be the greatest at every task in life.
And if you can teach this to a child at a young age, it will serve them well as they continue to go about life.
A Chance To Embrace Resilience
So many of life’s greatest lessons are learned through the most difficult times.
A couple on the verge of splitting up learns to value and love one another more deeply.
Financial difficulties teach us to budget wisely and understand the value of all we have.
The same goes with failing in the little things.
Failure can be a humbling experience, and it can teach us to build resilience as life gets harder.
Not getting the part in a school play or getting a C on a test after studying can teach a child that sometimes life isn’t fair – and it’s hard.
Maybe another girl did get the part because she’s more popular. And maybe the test really was on material that wasn’t covered – or was extremely difficult to understand.
Teaching your child “this too shall pass” and helping them to use failure as a chance to become better is a skill that will serve them well in life.
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