Resilience is an essential life skill, yet it is hard to give a child the opportunity to learn it.

As a parent or an educator, our instinct is often to shield children from failure or struggle. We hope to prevent them from taking the same missteps we took in our past.

But does this protection do more harm than good? We learn more from our failures than we do from our successes, so are we robbing children of important life lessons when we try to “fix” things for them?

I share my thoughts on the role of failure and how to foster resilience in this week’s video message below.

The instinct to help our students or our children when it looks like they’re “failing” can be a strong one. But what if I told you that resisting the urge to step in and help is one of the best things that you can do for your young person? Letting them work out problems on their own is an invaluable skill that they’ll use for their entire life.

In this video, I address how to foster resilience in children.

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that don’t work,” Thomas Edison

It’s also important to remember that not everything has to be labeled as a failure! It could just be a roadblock, a change in direction, or even an experiment. When things don’t go as planned, try not to rob your young learner of the opportunity to ‘readjust.’ Remember to let children first try something by themselves, at a level that is age-appropriate, and step in only when they really need your guidance. Failure is an integral part of the path to growing up.

Now, I want to hear from you. How do you feel about this new way of reacting to your child or student’s struggles? How are you teaching them to be resilient already?

Let’s continue the conversation in the comments and on social media.