Allow Kids To Screw Up

When we are teaching children, sometimes it seems we want to make them do it the "right way" or not at all. Learning is a process.

Allow youth to do the activity- don’t be too quick to correct them, show them the right way, or do things for them. Of course, if you see a danger threat, intervene immediately. The point is, some of the most important life lessons are learned by making mistakes. Adults tend to want to rescue kids from adversity. When we do that, we rob them of some of the most powerful learning experiences.

This is just one of the principles we teach in the 4-H Shooting Sports Instructor Classes, but it is applicable to any discipline or subject matter, to other kids or your own. Allowing them to fail in small degrees will set up those teachable moments, like I discussed in a previous blog, 12/2/09 Teachable Moments.