Teach the child how to begin again after an error, not only how to avoid one.

CREATIVITY

WHAT THIS MEANS

Avoiding mistakes is only half a skill, and the half that fails under pressure. A child taught mainly to be careful has nothing to do once something has already gone wrong, so the error becomes a crisis rather than a step. What they need is the recovery: how to stop, look at what happened, fix what can be fixed, and carry on without the whole thing collapsing.

When something goes wrong in front of a child, narrate your own recovery out loud. Show the step where you start again. Praise the getting back to it at least as often as the getting it right.

A QUESTION TO SIT WITH

Who taught you how to start again after getting something wrong?

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