The fantastic way to do it is to let them see you fail at something and not give up.
Can I Tell You A Story?
I decided to do some Navy SEAL type training. Mind you, at the time, I couldn’t even do one pull-up. I decided I wanted to do something called a Murph. It’s like a Navy SEAL warm up. Basically, it’s
- one-mile run
- 100 pull-ups
- 200 push-ups
- 300 squats
- another one-mile run
So that was what I was training for. As I said, I couldn’t even do one pull-up, so I needed expertise, I needed help. I hired a trainer. We came up with plans to do exercises six days out of the week. It was something that I was working really hard at.
Many times, it actually reminded me of my daughter, when she has to try and try and try so hard at things, and not get frustrated.
I asked the trainer if he would close the gym for my next session, and if it could just be the three of us. I brought my daughter along, and I let her watch me fail many times at doing what he wanted me to do.
I asked him beforehand, can you please turn up the volume on when you’re telling me whether I’m doing something right or doing something wrong like really exaggerate this, so my daughter understands that mommy can’t do something and she’s learning and learning and trying and doing.
He thought it was funny. He said, ‘’You do realize that’s what I do naturally.’’
I brought my daughter in, and she watched me do things, and not do them well, and not do them correctly. She also watched me do something, and then he would say, “Oh, fantastic, great, perfect. Do it again. Do it again.’’ So she got to see me fail many times and keep going. She also got to see me succeed, and be told, ‘’Do it again’’.
The best way to teach your child not to give up when they fail is for them to see you fail at something. They might not see many people really failing at anything. They might be thinking, I’m the only one who has to work this hard.
Come up with a situation and show them how hard you work at things, and how you fail, you make mistakes, but yet, you keep going, you never give up.
