We all fear failure. It is something we are all afraid of. Take each letter of the word FAIL. First Attempt In Learning. I think we should all view failure as a stepping stone to achieving. My boys are learning that failure is a good thing! Read on to find out why failure – mistakes are good.
It is a proven fact that your brain grows bigger when you get things wrong. New pathways are made inside your brain each time you make a mistake! We place such high value on achievements and getting things right. In actual fact if we get everything right the first time then we do not actually learn a great deal. In order to learn we need to make mistakes – these then give us something to work with and something to improve on.
For example if I am working on addition in Maths I may always get the answers right. Now the child who muddles subtraction and addition will actually learn that these two are commutative and do indeed complement one another. In mistaking addition for subtraction and using the wrong calculation I can learn additional facts that will help me to progress further.
I always tell the children I work with and teach that I want them to make mistakes. I want them to fail… sometimes. Failure – mistakes are good. They ensure we learn but they need to be set up in the right way. That’s right! I’m suggesting we set our children up to fail… sometimes BUT it needs to be done in the right way to ensure they learn and grow from the experience and is not damaging to the self-esteem or confidence.
Amazing right?
Share this with your children – failure makes us grow!
Here’s a great poster from big life journal!
