At times, children go through experiences or situations in which they are not successful. They could fail in a certain exam, in achieving high grades in a specific subject , in presenting a moving speech at their school's morning lineup; in winning an athletic contest or other.
Failure or unsuccessfulness is not being able to accomplish ones objectives in a specific area. It is important to realize that failure is not general; therefore, there is no unsuccessful child. However, there can be an unsuccessful experience, an unsuccessful conversation or an unsuccessful exam. The unsuccessful experiences that children go through are essential to develop and polish their skills, as each experience bears an important lesson, which is the reasons for failure, which can be a bridge towards success if the child fully understands them. Therefore, it is of most importance to recognize factors of failure to be able to overcome them, a child might need to practice more, pay closer attention to a specific detail , change his approach or other.
Most children evaluate themselves and the life experiences they engage in through our perception of them as parents and teachers, thus, it is our believe that they can overcome unsuccessful experiences that boosts their faith in their capabilities. Our reactions towards their experiences will eventually mold the pattern which they will adopt to deal with all the other experiences they go through in the future. When we provide assistance in dealing with a failed experience and help them collect their thoughts and strengths to raise again and start over we would have communicated an important skill which they need in their lives.
A mother shares her story "When my husband accepted a job in a foreign country, I joined him along with the children. I admitted my children to local schools, but because my child did not speak good English, he faced significant challenges in school. He studied much harder than his peers but his results were always weak. It was difficult for me too, as I had to witness my child's struggle, and his constant failure in exams, but I kept encouraging him. He was striving to succeed and when he was overwhelmed by feelings of frustration, I was the one to encourage him to go further. It was never easy, but he achieved significant results by the end of the year, and passed with distinction on the following years. The most important skill that he acquired was to face failure. The experience was of significant impact on him, he is now able to overcome failure in any form as he looks at what happened as an experience that he prevailed in after numerous unsuccessful attempts, and thus he can overcome any other"
Unsuccessful experiences are steps leading to success, let us help our children look at them as merely steps and help them successfully climb them to achieve the success they aspire for.
