Teaching our children to persevere can be one of the most important parts of our job as parents. So, finding ways to capitalize on events in their lives that can promote perseverance is vital to their growth in this area. One way to do this is to get them involved in a sport or activity. Learning the new skills needed to progress in an activity can provide opportunities to encourage them through failure and setbacks. You can also use the P.E.R.S.E.V.E.R.E tips below.
- Provide opportunities for you and your child to try new things together and individually
- Encourage your child when they are struggling to carry out a task or skill
- Remind them of how far they have come or of other successful endeavors they have accomplished
- Suggest ways to improve only after they have tried multiple things on their own
- Embrace their failures as opportunities for growth and lessons they can apply in other areas
- Value and celebrate attitude and effort
- Engage them with stories of failure in your own life or famous failures that shows perseverance
- Resist the urge to fix their problems for them
- Educate them on opportunities and lessons learned in failure or with learning a new skill
