Hard work and determination pretty much go hand and hand. In a room full of geniuses and idiots, The determined person is usually the one that works the hardest and achieves the most regardless of their IQ. According to some experts, teaching children the value of hard work and determination is essential in the childs social and emotional development.
So how do we teach them the value of hard work and determination in an era watered down with Google and iPads?
Heres are 3 simple things we practice that go a long way with our first grader.
PUT YOUR BEST FOOT FORWARD:
Jordyn decided she wants to be an olympic gymnast. She watched the Gabby Douglas movie and started doing gymnastics recreationally a few months ago and fell in love. Because she worked so hard at it, she was invited to join the pre-competition team within 2 months of ever even stepping foot into a gym. She started learning her routines and wanted to show me and Zeke. As she was showing us, although she had the routine memorized and it would have probably been good enough for some parents, we noticed that she wasn't putting her best foot forward. Her kick overs were good, but not great. Her toes weren't pointed as they should b...So instead of praising her on memorizing the routine, we reminded her that if she wants to be an olympic gymnast, she needs to always make sure she is giving 100% and that doing her routine half-heartedly, even if its just to show us at home, isn't going to get her to her goal.. A few minutes later....those toes were pointed, those kick overs were perfect. If she knows she can do it...she needs to always put her best foot forward in any instance in life.
PRAISE THE EFFORT MORE THAN THE ACCOMPLISHMENT.
Its hard for us as parents to not over praise our children when they do something great. Some kids do things with such ease, while it takes others 30 tries before they can get it. But the child that took those 30 tries and accomplished what they set out to do, deserves more praise for their effort that the child that accomplished something with ease. That child should be pushed to do something that takes more effort on their part and then praised. If we over praise our children on things that come easy to them, they're always going to want to take the easy way out and not work hard at things that take effort.
THE ONLY FAILURE IS NOT TRYING.
Jordyn is really hard on herself. She gets really down on herself if she can't accomplish something. but she never gives up. She tries and tries, no matter how many times she fails. She tries until she nails it. I don't hide my failures from Jordyn either, modeling what you're teaching is one of the most important things we can do as parents. Instill in your children that the only failure is not trying. Drill into their brains the concept of "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again". There are also tons of children's books that can be read with your children in which the underdog prevails.
It's important to keep home a safe place. Free of judgement from failure. If your child is afraid of the consequences of failure, they wont even try.
SOME GREAT CHILDRENS BOOKS ON DETERMINATION:
(click titles to purchase from Amazon)
A great book about determination in sports.
a fun story about hard work!
Such a cute story that reminds children they were determined before they even knew it!
A story about succeeding despite opposition!
What about you? how do you teach determination in your homes?
Xo, Jeanice.
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